Wanna fly? Win a lottery

By Rajan Rawat

Humla, Nov.1: Air passengers in upper Humla have been compelled to depend on a lottery system to obtain tickets. The shortage of flights returning from Kathmandu has led travellers to resort to this method to secure air tickets.

Rohan Rawat, a resident of Simkot Rural Municipality–6, who had been preparing to travel to Nepalgunj for the past week, said on Wednesday evening that he finally managed to get a ticket after Sita Air introduced a lottery system for ticket distribution.

Sita Air conducted three flights from Nepalgunj to Simkot on Thursday, having flown to Nepalgunj on Wednesday to operate its scheduled flights. The first flight carried tourists, while passengers who had secured tickets through the lottery system were transported on the second and third flights. 

Around one hundred passengers took part in the lottery to win seats on the plane. Only four people were selected for tickets on each flight through the lottery system. 

Sita Air’s aircraft typically carries 14 passengers. Another passenger, Chhiring Lama, who did not win a ticket, said that residents of Humla were having to rely on luck to obtain air tickets. He expressed frustration that ticket shortages have always been a recurring issue for travellers. According to him, it would have been better if the airline had held more lottery rounds.

Likewise, Suryal Lama, the assistant in charge of Sita Air’s Simkot branch, stated that the airline had been forced to distribute tickets through the lottery due to the high number of passengers and limited tickets. He also maintained that it ensures fairness among the public. 

A significant number of students, government employees, traders, and patients want to make their travel following the great festival season of Dashain and Tihar. Similarly, during the tourist season, Simkot Airport usually handles 20 to 25 flights daily, but at present, fewer than six flights are being managed. 

Currently, Nepal Airlines operates three flights weekly - two from Nepalgunj and one from Surkhet - while Sita, Tara, and Summit Air each conduct one flight a week.