Domestic air passenger traffic growth dropped 5.48 percent to 668,740 in the first six months of 2015, largely due to higher airfares and winter fog during the January-February period.

Airline officials have cited the April 25 earthquake that affected airline occupancy for at least three months as another reason for the downturn.

The figure includes the 16,538 travellers carried by single-engine aircraft and helicopters.

According to the statistics of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), domestic carriers received 38,840 less flyers in the first six months of 2015 compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, domestic flight movement dropped 6.61 percent in the first half of this year. The 16 domestic airlines, including eight fixed-wing companies, made 34,531 flights.

Ghanashyam Acharya, spokesperson of the Airlines Operators Association of Nepal, said that three major factors—winter fog, earthquake and airfare—impacted traveller movement this year.

Annual winter fog during the January-February period forced a large number of airlines to cancel their regular flights.

According to the Tourism Ministry, domestic airlines cancelled 18,328 flights in 2014, a majority of them during the winter. This year too, a large number of flights were cancelled as inclement weather has become the single biggest factor causing flight cancellations and air traffic delays in Nepal.

Likewise, Acharya said that after the winter, the April 25 earthquake came as another blow to air traffic movement as potential travellers put off their trips. “Besides, high airfares resulting from increased fuel costs affected domestic air traffic growth.”

Despite the sharp drop in traffic, airline officials said that carriers would not see negative passenger growth this year.

“All the airlines have been flying at full capacity for the last three months as the Tarai unrest has virtually cut off overland transportation,” Acharya said, adding that air seat demand had surpassed supplies after protests in the southern Tarai belt against the proposed federal setup intensified from August.

A breakdown by airlines shows that all of them except Nepal Airlines and Sita Air posted double-digit negative growth.

Buddha Air saw its passenger carriage decline 11 percent to 350,131 in the first six months of 2014. Yeti Airlines saw its passenger movement drop 17.21 percent to 169,775. Yeti’s subsidiary Tara Air, which only operates on remote sectors, observed negative passenger growth of 39.36 percent. It flew 23,102 passengers in the first half of 2015. However, Simrik Airlines, Nepal Airlines and Sita Air saw healthy passenger growth in the review period. Simrik received 33,384 passengers, down 25.53 percent.

However, Nepal Airlines and Sita Air posted the strongest passenger growth. The national flag carrier Nepal Airlines saw the strongest passenger growth after it received two Chinese-made MA60 and Y12e aircraft in April and November respectively last year.

TIA’s statistics showed that Nepal Airlines passenger carriage swelled 85.17 percent to 18,955 in the first six months of 2015. Sita Air saw its passenger carriage grow 38.58 percent to 5,010.

Goma Air that started scheduled domestic operations in October 2014 carried 12,217 passengers, while Saurya Airlines that began flying in November 2014 carried 39,628 passengers in the first half of 2015, according to TIA statistics.