Almost four months after the suspension, Drukair resumed domestic flights to Gelephu yesterday.

The aircraft from Paro landed at the Gelephu airport around 1.40pm yesterday. The Yonphula bound flight carried a lone Gelephu passenger.

Department of Air Transport’s (DAT) airport manager in Gelephu, Sonam Phuntsho, said that the department and customers in Gelephu have waited for the flight to resume. “A lot of customers have been inquiring about the flight and finally it’s operational,” he said.

He added that there are several customers in Gelephu who prefer travelling by air to Yonphula and Paro, the only two domestic flight destinations from Gelephu.  It is the unavailability of tickets that customers are unhappy about, he said.

Flight operations to Gelephu were suspended since January end after operating at government subsidy for three months. After two-years of suspension, the airline had resumed the flight on November 11 last year.

In an earlier interview Drukair’s CEO Tandi Wangchuk had said that the flight suspension had nothing to do with the number of passengers because the flight is operated on government subsidy.  “It is for the wind curfew period that the operation to Gelephu was suspended,” he said.

Flights to Gelephu will operate twice a week on Thursdays and Sundays.

Nirmala Pokhrel | Tsirang