Nepal Airlines A320 Bhairahawa SOLD OUT in an hour of system breakdown

The national flag carrier Nepal Airlines made a special announcement yesterday to conduct a special flight by its narrow body aircraft A320 from Kathmandu to Gautam Buddha International Airport. A surge in ticket demand came in the wake of severe floods and landslides affecting the nation, alongside the peak of the festive season. To accommodate the rising need for travel, Nepal Airlines decided to operate an Airbus A320 on the Kathmandu–Bhairahawa route, providing much-needed capacity for eager travellers.

However, Nepal Airlines’ A320 flight to Bhairahawa was fully booked within an hour of the airline opening ticket sales for this special route, following a temporary system breakdown that had disrupted reservations. Once the airline’s online booking system was restored, seats were quickly filled, leaving many hopeful passengers surprised and disappointed by the sell-out.

Several passengers have raised suspicions about the legitimacy of the ticket sales, questioning whether the tickets were genuinely sold or if they were diverted into the black market. With the rapid sell-out and the system breakdown creating an opportunity for potential misconduct, there are growing fears that some tickets may have been withheld from regular passengers and sold at inflated prices through unauthorized channels.

This situation has intensified scrutiny of Nepal Airlines’ booking practices, with many calling for greater transparency in how tickets are sold, particularly during times of high demand. As a result, passengers and consumer rights groups are urging the airline to investigate whether any irregularities occurred during the booking process and to ensure that the system breakdown was not exploited for unethical purposes. The incident has sparked widespread concern that if the issue is not addressed properly, it could erode public trust in the airline during an already challenging time for travelers.