The Bhutanese Leading the way.
We have all been there. Trying our best to catch a wink of sleep before the dawn flight from Bangkok or Delhi and softly cursing the two airlines under our breath as we head sleepless to the airport at least three hours before the take-off time.
While waiting on the steel benches in the airport you look at the boarding staff of the airlines and wonder why can’t our airlines get better slots like a nice comfortable late morning or even after afternoon timing.
Some of the popular theories repeated like a mantra among some passengers is that either our airlines are too incompetent to get good slots or that they are cheap and hence taking the cheapest flying slots in the airport.
The flight back to Paro is a tough choice between breakfast or uncomfortable attempted sleep in the economy class where you are in constant peril of a neck ache and dignity makes an exit as you try and catch sleep in whatever position you can.
Druk Air and Bhutan Airlines stewards must have seen Bhutanese at their most tired and undignified selves including with open snores.
To get a sample of the times, Druk Air flights from Bangkok are normally around 6 am with some being at 7.30 am which means you have to be at the airport by 3 am or 4.30 am which in turn means you should be up by 1 am and leave the hotel by 2 am.
In short no sleep.
It is even earlier with 4.10 am flights from Delhi to Paro these days that now put Bangkok to shame.
The picture is not very different for Bhutan Airlines which also has similar early timings for Bangkok (6.30 am and 7.05 am) and Delhi (6.30 am).
The Officiating Commercial General Manager of Druk Air Ugen Dorji said the first issue is that the airplanes can only operate during daylight in Paro Airport and not at night.
The other problem is a wind curfew that start from February and extends till 14th May which essentially means no flights after 12 or 1 pm as it is not safe to operate at that time.
He said the other major factor is aircraft utilization because if the flight from Bangkok starts a little later and lands at Paro airport by 11 am then the aircraft is stuck at Paro airport.
To prevent losses and aircraft depreciation the airline tries to use the aircraft as much as possible in the shortest window period into and out of Paro.
He said be it Bangkok or Delhi the aim is to fly in early just after day break do short flight like to Kathmandu and then fly back to Bangkok.
He said that since Druk Air also gives subsidized air flights they need to try and offset costs and so sometimes after the flight lands in the foreign destination they do foreign flights like to East Timor in the past. Right now, Druk Air is not making such flights but it is exploring options.
Ugen said that the early flight into Paro has always received positive feedback from tourists as they feel this gives them extra time in Bhutan and a whole day ahead of them.
When asked if Paro airport cannot be converted into a night airport Ugen said the issue is not so much the airport but that fact that the pilot would have to negotiate the surrounding mountains and hills in the dark which is not safe.
An official from the Bhutan Airlines also agreed with all of the above as stated by Druk Air.
The official said that factors like aircraft utilization, wind curfew and sunrise and sunset restrictions at the Paro airport leads to early morning flights from Delhi and Bangkok.
