The government has granted operation authorization to Dhaka-based Novoair to operate flights between the Bangladeshi capital and Kathmandu, less than a month after another Bangladeshi carrier US-Bangla Airlines received s similar permit.  

Novoair, which plans to start services in June, has been allocated 850 seats per week on the Kathmandu-Dhaka route, said Pramod Nepal, under secretary at the Tourism Ministry.

The carrier was established in October 2001 and began international flights in December 2015. Kathmandu will be its second international destination after Myanmar. Novoair’s fleet consists of three Embraer ERJ 145 and three ATR 72-500 aircraft.

Meanwhile, US-Bangla Airlines has postponed the launch of its Kathmandu service to mid-May. It had originally planned to start flights in April. Novoair is the sixth Bangladeshi airline to receive flight permission after Biman Bangladesh, GMG Airlines, United Airways, Regent Airways and US-Bangla Airlines. However, none of them operates flights to Kathmandu except Biman. Regent Airways had received operation authorization last year. International air passenger traffic through Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) dropped for the first time in 13 years as travellers stayed away due to the April earthquake last year and a jet fuel shortage caused by an Indian trade embargo.

According to TIA, the number of travellers passing through the country’s sole international airport plunged 8.37 percent to 3.21 million in 2015. Likewise, aircraft movement fell 2.37 percent to 26,563 flights.

Meanwhile, the Tourism Ministry has issued an operating licence to Heli Everest, a helicopter company, allowing it to apply for a no-objection certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

An air operator’s certificate is issued to a new company only after it brings aircraft. The ministry had issued a licence to Altitude Air last year. Nepal now has nine helicopter companies. Operators said that the growth in helicopter companies in Nepal had been fuelled by growing demand for rescue operations and sightseeing besides development projects in the remote hills and mountain areas. In 2015, six helicopter companies flew 23,000 passengers.