Year 2006 witnessed a record number of air passengers in the history of civil aviation in Nepal, official of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) told Xinhua on Wednesday.

 

The number of people traveling with aircraft hit the record as more Nepali people left for foreign jobs and more people switched from vehicles to aircraft while traveling within the country.

 

According to Director General of the CAAN Yagya Prasad Basnet, the number of passengers traveled via the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) rose 32 percent to 3.12 million in the year of 2006.

 

Domestic air traffic saw a staggering growth of 58.8 percent to reach 1.75 million while the movement of international air passengers is estimated at 1.13 million, a 9 percent rise over the previous year, the CAAN sources said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2007)