Fly Yeti

I don’t know how this slipped off the radar!

Another interesting development in the Asian low cost carrier space—Air Arabia, that huge Sharjah-based low cost airline with an extensive network in the region (Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, Armenia, Jordan, India, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Kuwait, etc), is now in a joint venture with Nepal’s Yeti Airlines. The new carrier, Fly Yeti, uses Kathmandu as a hub to Delhi, Bangkok, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Hong Kong, and… Kuala Lumpur! A friend of mine from Sharjah who studies in Singapore just booked herself a return flight home at S$680 with taxes all in—compared to her usual price of $1800. The layover in Kathmandu isn’t a bad thing at all :)

This is superb news, second only to AirAsia X actually starting their flights to Europe, if when that ever happens.

I’ll be trying to get myself on one of these Fly Yeti flights, just so I can say I’ve flown Nepal’s first low cost airline (so crazy expensive to get in and out of that country, previously, by my admittedly low standards). I’ve flown many low cost carriers named for animals (Tiger, Druk, and Nok on their short-lived Bangalore-Bangkok route), and thought Nok—which means Bird—was weird enough in introducing their cabin crew with a Nok prefix to all their names (bird this, bird that).

But. To fly an airline named for the abominable snowman? Amazing.