Airplane, Nepal

To enter Nepal you need a visa, It is possible to obtain these before you leave your home country but most people get theirs on arrival, The following information is designed to get you through the airport as quickly as possible.
You need
1 passport photo
$25 US for a 15 day visa, $40 US for a 30 day visa and $100 US for a 90 day visa

Once off the plane, you will probably have a short airport bus ride to the terminal, Once inside follow the signs to Custom as Immigration. This is a large hall, you will find desks with forms to fill in, You need to fill out two forms,Unless you have downloaded the visa application form and have it ready pre-filled in (Please see my “Be Ahead of the Game” Transportation tip on here for details and downloads)
1) Visa application form, The usual form with details of your passport, home address, proposed length of stay in Nepal, reason for visiting etc etc
2) Disembarkation form (Sometimes these are handed out by the airline that you fly in with, so if this is the case you can be ahead of the game !!)

Once you have filled these forms in (as quickly as possible is my advice) you first go to the desk on the left hand side of the hall and pay your visa fee and hand over your passport photo. You will be given a yellow receipt.
Then take this receipt along with your passport and disembarkation form to one of the immigration desks to the right of the visa payment desk, hand over your passport and yellow receipt and you will be issued with your visa.
It’s as simple as that !!

We took Fly Kingfisher Airlines from Delhi to Kathmandu. Thought it was odd the airline was named after a beer but the service was great and as an anxious flyer in general, it was a good experience. They even served a good meal even though the flight was 1 hour and 40 minutes. I would highly recommend this airline and I chose them because they had good reviews so I concur.

I don't think their phone numbers work unless you are in the area.

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If you are taking an internal flight, This also includes a Mountain Flight, You now have to pay 169.5 NPR Airport Tax, You have to buy this before checking in form a counter at the Terminal, Save yourself some time by buying it Before you join the Queue – You would be surprised at how many people don’t then get to the front of the queue only to be turned away !!!!

Buddha Air doesn't fly when visibility is less than 5 kms on non-instrument airports. In the haze of Nepal in the spring time - March-June, that means the occasional cancellation and delay.
Buddha Air's schedule is very tight with a high turn-around speed of planes, so the schedule may be thrown into disarray. If problems, try to fly Gorkha Air, Sita Air or Yeti Airlines instead, using smaller aircraft, Dorniers and TwinOtters and the like.
But when things are normal, do fly Buddha for efficiency and good planes. Second choice is Yeti.

Nepal is a bit difficult to reach by plane; the country is off the main air routes, and there are few intercontinental flights there. Due to this the cost of flying to Nepal is significantly higher than flying to neigbouring Delhi. You are forced to detouring to reach Nepal. It may even be hard to find seats on these shorter, regional flights connecting KTM. The reasons are that Nepalese guest workers pack the planes, and that travel agents book early en block in the expectation of good travel seasons. Another reason is that one-runway Kathmandu Airport - the infamous Tribhuvan International Airport/TIA among friends, has extremely high landing fees and high cost of fuel (all being transported up from India by small tanker trucks). The seasonality of tourism also makes it weird, with seasonal air operations. You have a good number of flights during September-November, and again a peak in February-March. I have described elsewhere what airlines fly there and from where.
As of now, there are no scheduled flights to Nepal from Europe, and few hubs to recon with: The Gulf countries (Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Qatar especially), Delhi, Hong Kong or Bangkok. Going to Nepal involves either a side track or a change of airlines and complicated ticketing. There are some interesting options, going from West Asia to East Asia via Kathmandu (Korean, Air China, Dragon, Thai). It may pay off to find a travel agent in Kathmandu who can prepare your exit travels from Nepal.
An interesting option is flying Druk Air (Bhutan) from Delhi to Kathmandu, and after a transit of as long as you wish, proceed by Druk to Paro in Bhutan. From there you can go back to India (Calcutta, Delhi) or to Bangkok, still by Druk. This segment shouldn't cost a whole lot.

continuing....

I notice that there is some confusion as to which airlines fly to Kathmandu in some other VT tips. It changes all the time, of course, but this is the list by April 2008, with some updates 2010:

1) Silk Air from Singapore thrice weekly.
2) Air Arabia from Sharjah.
3) Bangladesh Biman from Dhaka, three times+ weekly.
4) Indian Airlines from Delhi, up to twice daily; from Varanasi a few times a week; from Patna, ditto; from Kolkatha, daily.
5) Druk Air from Paro (Bhutan) and Delhi twice or thrice weekly.
6) Thai Air from Bangkok daily, twice daily during the high season.
7) Nepal Airlines (NB - much reduced from the past!!!) to/from Delhi, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Osaka.
8) Gulf Air from Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Bharain three-four times weekly.
9) Qatar Airlines from Doha about 10 times weekly.
10) Air China (reformed China South-Western Airlines) from Lhasa 4 times weekly.
11) Royal Brunei (occasionally, and rarely after the demise of the monarchy in Nepal)
12) Pakistan International 3 times weekly from Islamabad.
13) CIA-chartered airlines used to arrive frequently.
14) Sahara Airlines from Delhi (daily).
15) Jet Airways from Delhi (daily). Also from Kolkata, Varanasi and Patna.
16) Yeti Airlines to Delhi, expanding to other cities (daily).
17) China Southern from Guanzhou (2 times weekly).
18) Etihad Airlines from the Emirates (Dubai) thrice weekly.
19) Pukhet Air from Bangkok occasionally.
20) Dragon Air from Hong Kong twice weekly.
21) Korean Airlines from Seoul weekly.
22) GMG from Dhaka 4 times per week.
23) Kingfisher from Delhi daily.
24) Spice from Delhi daily.
25) Fly Dubai from Dubai 3-4 times weekly.

Leaving Nepal by plane is a bit complicated, but here's the routine:
1) From the taxi stop at "departures" get a luggage cart - no need for a porter unless you have more than you can handle. They seem to hijack all the luggage carts, though.
2) Should you nevertheless need porter(s), agree the price per item luggage and ensure only one person handles your luggage (or you will have to pay the others involved, too). Note that there is a short walk only to the doors, and porters are not allowed inside the airport departure hall.
3) Find your correct entrance door (airlines are sometimes listed). Show your ticket and passport to the police at the entrance door.
4) Prepare for x-raying you luggage to be checked in. Certainly not for your exposed films, in this machine! While your luggage warms up in the x-ray, your body will be frisked.
5) Put baggage back on cart, proceed to check-in. On most airlines you do not need to pay extra airport tax as you used to do in the past.
6) Check-in at the appropriate counter - may take some scouting... Ensure your baggage is correctly tagged to your destination and lifted onto the luggage band.
7) Show boarding pass at the foot of the escalator to the upper floor (only one escalator, can't go wrong), proceed to passport control in the hall above.
8) Lost your departure card? New ones are found here along the wall to the left. Now, did you bring a pen?
9) Find your correct passport line (scouting again, but less options here: nationals, foreigners, diplomatic/official), get through - hopefully - and proceed to the proper departure hall.
10) Souvenir and tax free shops, a restaurant lounge and the Star Alliance (Thai) lounge to your right, a small cafe counter with drinks a bit further ahead. Upstairs is a good restaurant with a view.
11) Security check, hand luggage into x-ray machine, you through metal detector, and they'll frisk you. Note that there may be long lines, separate for men and women.You will be directed to manual search of your hand luggage.
12) Get your boarding pass signed and stamped after having your luggage searched manually.
13) By now it's only the departure gate left, but you may find you're stuck here for a long and claustrofobic and hot time. It is not a good idea to rush through the security check to come here, because the waiting area is without drinks, proper toilets, sufficient seats, stuffy air etc.
14) A rush of people as the door opens, and a quick last body frisking at the plane before you get on board. Indian Airlines may have slightly different routines.

This is the routine:
1) Follow the flow of people from the plane into the arrival building.
2) If you have time, change money at the bank counter to the left of the immigration lines - no hassles and you'll have some rupees in hand as you leave the airport for taxi etc.
3) Fill in appropriate forms unless you have already done so on the plane. You need one visa application form, one customs form and one embarkation/disembarcation card.
4) Find a line suitable to your situation: Indian Nationals/SAARC/tourists with visa/Tourists without visa/Diplomats & official.
5) Have your papers ready, prepare for what could be a long wait. If you need a visa, make sure you have the correct visa fee and photo ready. Currently one photo and 25 dollars for a 14-day visa. First they will take your money and give you a receipt.
6) Finished with immigration formalities, proceed downstairs and go through checking of hand luggage. Sometimes this check is not manned. Notice the scale for weighing gold at the metal detector gate. Try to avoid sending your film reels through the x-ray machine, ask for manual check.
7) Continue to the luggage "carousel", two long conveyer bands rumbling though the hall with, by now, hopefully your luggage. Baggage handlers will offload luggage from the bands when they fill up, so look on the floor alongside the band if you cannot locate it on the band itself.
8) Take luggage and yourself through appropriate red or green channel (it's the same!). You may or may not be asked to put your checked luggage through the customs X-ray machine.
9) Head for the exit if all is ok and find a hotel booking counter and sometimes a "Nepal Traveller" bureau official giving you a city map and travel guide for free (useful). Past the first exit door you will find a taxi service counter on your right. They won't cheat you - see my pre-paid taxi travel tip elsewhere on VT. Then head out for the crowds - see photo.