Moderators: richierich, ua900, PanAm_DC10, hOMSaR
raylee67 wrote:This is not going to work commercially. How is Nepal Airlines going to compete with a 2/weekly service?
kjeld0d wrote:raylee67 wrote:This is not going to work commercially. How is Nepal Airlines going to compete with a 2/weekly service?
Simple: They are government-owned and do not need to be profitable to survive.
smi0006 wrote:Is AU Nepal that big a market? I know it’s a growing tourism destination for Aussie…. But agree even nonstop seems a stretch.
Also a 21st June start date? It’s 27th of May now… no chance of getting a ground handling agreement in place by June yet alone selling tickets this close out!!
PIA was also due to start Sydney flights, but they couldn’t comply with AU security regulator requirements and risk assessments so have the slot back. Still a few hoops for Nepal Airlines to jump through. But we could deffs do with some
More interesting carriers in AU! So fingers crossed.
But hey, I have holidays that week of June and no plans yet…. For the right price I’d take them up to SIN for fun!
Flogskipari wrote:The fact that Nepal Airlines is on the EU blacklist doesn't bother the Aussies? Was that an issue for PK? Or for GA when they were on the EU blacklist?
NTLDaz wrote:smi0006 wrote:Is AU Nepal that big a market? I know it’s a growing tourism destination for Aussie…. But agree even nonstop seems a stretch.
Also a 21st June start date? It’s 27th of May now… no chance of getting a ground handling agreement in place by June yet alone selling tickets this close out!!
PIA was also due to start Sydney flights, but they couldn’t comply with AU security regulator requirements and risk assessments so have the slot back. Still a few hoops for Nepal Airlines to jump through. But we could deffs do with some
More interesting carriers in AU! So fingers crossed.
But hey, I have holidays that week of June and no plans yet…. For the right price I’d take them up to SIN for fun!
There is a large and growing Nepalese diaspora - that's most likely the main reason for this flight.
smi0006 wrote:Is AU Nepal that big a market? I know it’s a growing tourism destination for Aussie…. But agree even nonstop seems a stretch.
raylee67 wrote:kjeld0d wrote:raylee67 wrote:This is not going to work commercially. How is Nepal Airlines going to compete with a 2/weekly service?
Simple: They are government-owned and do not need to be profitable to survive.
Until the government runs out of money or get tired and cannot/will not support it any more, like Alitalia, Olympic, Malaysia Airlines, THAI, South African and Air India. But yea, it will take some time to get there.
I still don't understand why they would not fly this non-stop though given the capability of their plane to actually do so. Flying the route via SIN does not give the airline any prestige. It's not like flights to JFK that sometimes give airlines from developing countries some mysterious "pride" and they would run them at huge loss.
eamondzhang wrote:People has to remember that KTM lies 4,390ft above sea level, in part of the Himalayas. To fly 11hr from an airport that high likely involves a substantial weight penalty on takeoff from KTM, and I guess this is partly the reason behind SIN stop.
Michael
spinkid wrote:i would think BKK would be a cheaper connecting point and easier to compete on price as well as able to get the 5th freedom rights more easily.
NTLDaz wrote:spinkid wrote:i would think BKK would be a cheaper connecting point and easier to compete on price as well as able to get the 5th freedom rights more easily.
Getting 5th freedom rights between Singapore and Australia shouldn't be difficult. BA currently have them and ( not sure if they still do ) but EK have done it as well as Gulf Air and Egypt Air in the past. As well as the European Airlines which flew here.
Kilopond wrote:When I enter "Nepal 757 goats" into a search engine, I get results like these:
Nepal Airlines Sacrificed a Pair of Goats to Fix Its Broken Jet
Nepal airline sacrifices goats to appease sky god
raylee67 wrote:eamondzhang wrote:People has to remember that KTM lies 4,390ft above sea level, in part of the Himalayas. To fly 11hr from an airport that high likely involves a substantial weight penalty on takeoff from KTM, and I guess this is partly the reason behind SIN stop.
Michael
KTM's altitude is actually quite low given the terrain the country is in. MEX is at 7,316 ft altitude, yet airlines have been deploying A330-200 to fly between Europe and MEX before the days of 787 (e.g. Mexicana used to have A330-200 for long haul) and they seem to be able to do that with full load. KTM-SYD is only about 8% further than MEX-MAD.