Kathmandu, Jan. 31 -- Domestic air traffic movement recorded a modest growth in 2025, constrained by infrastructure bottlenecks at Kathmandu airport, sluggish growth in tourist arrivals and worsening pollution in the Tarai plains.

Nepal's domestic airlines-seven fixed-wing operators and 12 helicopter companies-carried 4.56 million passengers last year, up 2.20 percent year on year. Despite the slowdown, this was the highest passenger traffic ever recorded by domestic airlines.

The number of domestic air travellers has surged more than fourfold since 2000, when only 853,000 passengers flew domestically, at a time when air travel was widely considered a luxury.

According to Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) statistics, domestic airli...