Airport Tax & Charges in Nepal: Passenger Service Charge, Tourism Fee & Development Tax

For most travellers the short answer is no: since these charges are collected by the airline when it sells the ticket, you do not queue at a counter to hand over cash before your flight. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), which operates Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA, IATA code KTM) and every other airport in the country, states plainly that for both domestic and international passengers the Passenger Service Charge is already included in the air ticket, so 'the passenger need not pay such charge at the airport'.

This is a change from the older days of a physical 'departure tax' counter. Today the fees are itemised in the tax-and-charges portion of your fare, usually shown as codes on the e-ticket rather than as a line reading 'airport tax'. When people search for 'Nepal airport tax', 'TIA departure fee' or 'Kathmandu airport tax international', they are almost always asking about these bundled government charges rather than a payment made in person.

The three charges that matter to an ordinary traveller are the Passenger Service Charge (PSC), the Tourism Service Fee levied by the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), and the 13% Value Added Tax (VAT) that now sits on top of many aviation charges and, since 2023, on the ticket itself. There is no separately named 'airport development tax' currently charged to passengers at TIA; development of airports is funded from the PSC and other CAAN revenues rather than a distinct passenger levy.

The Passenger Service Charge is the core departure fee at TIA and is set by CAAN under the Airport Service Charge Regulation, first issued in 2067 BS (2010/11 AD) and revised several times since. For an international departure the PSC is Rs 3,000 per passenger, a figure that is inclusive of 13% VAT and is applied to travellers of all nationalities, including Nepali citizens.

This rate came from a sharp increase approved by Nepal's cabinet in April 2022 (Baisakh 2079 BS) and effective roughly 35 days later. The international PSC jumped from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000 per passenger, and the earlier discounted South Asian (SAARC) rate of Rs 700 was abolished, so passengers to India and other South Asian destinations now pay the same Rs 3,000. CAAN projected the higher charge would raise billions of rupees a year to fund airport upgrades, though airlines criticised the timing as the tourism sector recovered from COVID-19.

Because the PSC is embedded in the fare, it is the airline that remits it to CAAN. Charter flights are treated differently: rather than counting each passenger, the PSC on a charter is assessed on the seating capacity of the aircraft, with a surcharge applying to charter operations under CAAN's charge schedule.

Separate from CAAN's PSC, the Nepal Tourism Board levies a Tourism Service Fee on foreign travellers departing from airports in Nepal. TIA lists this fee as Rs 1,130 per passenger, inclusive of 13% VAT. Crucially, it is charged to all nationals except Nepali passport holders, so Nepali citizens flying abroad do not pay it while foreign tourists do.

The underlying fee is Rs 1,000 excluding VAT; with 13% VAT added it reaches the Rs 1,130 shown on the airport's schedule. The NTB revised the fee to Rs 1,000 with effect from 1 March 2014 (Falgun 2070 BS), up from Rs 500 that had been in place since January 2005. The concept dates back to 1999, when it began as a 2% service charge on tourism services before being converted to a flat fee.

Like the PSC, the Tourism Service Fee is designed to be collected through the ticket rather than at a physical desk, so a departing foreign visitor typically never sees it as a standalone payment. It is a departure-side charge only: there is no equivalent tourism service fee collected from arriving passengers at immigration, which is a separate visa-fee matter.

Domestic passengers also pay a Passenger Service Charge, but at much lower and tiered rates that depend on the airport of departure. The 2022 revision raised domestic charges alongside the international one. Departures from the international airport (TIA) carry a domestic PSC of Rs 500 per passenger, up from Rs 200 previously.

Departures from Nepal's larger provincial airports - such as Pokhara, Bharatpur, Biratnagar, Nepalgunj, Dhangadhi, Janakpur, Simara, Chandragadhi, Surkhet, Gautam Buddha (Bhairahawa), Jomsom and Lukla - are charged Rs 400 per passenger. Small remote airfields carry a lower Rs 200 charge, replacing the earlier Rs 10 to Rs 100 range that applied at the most basic strips.

As with international travel, these domestic charges are folded into the ticket price. A domestic passenger flying Kathmandu to Pokhara, for example, does not pay a separate service charge at the terminal; the Rs 500 sits within the fare that the airline collects and passes on to CAAN.

Not every traveller pays the Passenger Service Charge. TIA and CAAN's charge schedule exempt infants not above 2 years of age from the PSC, so a lap infant travelling without a seat is not charged the service fee. Airline crew operating the flight are likewise exempt.

Genuine transit and transfer passengers are also exempt where there is no stopover - typically defined as a connection within 24 hours during which the passenger does not formally enter the country. Passengers who are involuntarily rerouted (for example, diverted or rebooked because of a cancellation) are similarly not charged again. These exemptions mirror standard international practice for passenger service charges.

If you are unsure whether a charge applies to your itinerary, the safest check is your e-ticket's fare breakdown: exempt categories simply will not have the corresponding charge coded against the ticket. For foreign tourists, remember the two departure charges stack - the Rs 3,000 PSC plus the Rs 1,130 Tourism Service Fee - whereas a Nepali passenger pays only the Rs 3,000 PSC on an international departure.

Beyond these named charges, Nepal's tax authority (the Inland Revenue Department) introduced 13% VAT on air travel from the start of fiscal year 2080/81 BS (18 July 2023 AD). The VAT is applied to air tickets, which raised the effective cost of higher-priced fares in particular; domestic carriers began collecting it immediately, while international carriers initially delayed implementation amid confusion over international-transport tax rules.

The published Rs 3,000 PSC and Rs 1,130 Tourism Service Fee already include their 13% VAT component, so you should not add VAT to those numbers again. Where VAT does add up separately is on the base airfare and on ancillary services such as ground handling. Industry reporting noted that when the PSC rose, plus a ground-handling charge of around Rs 3,600 and the Tourism Service Fee, the government-and-handling component alone could push the minimum ticket cost on a short international route (excluding fare and fuel surcharge) toward Rs 8,000.

The practical takeaway for a traveller is that the 'tax' portion of a Nepal ticket is real and non-trivial, but it is not something you settle at the airport. Treat the PSC and Tourism Service Fee as fixed, ticket-included items; the variable piece is the airfare and the VAT the airline applies on it.

Use this simple method to estimate the government charges bundled into a Nepal departure ticket. It covers only the CAAN Passenger Service Charge and NTB Tourism Service Fee; it does not compute the airline's base fare, fuel surcharge, or the 13% VAT that the airline may add to the fare itself.

Step 1 - pick your journey type and passenger type. Step 2 - add the PSC for that route. Step 3 - if you are a foreign (non-Nepali) passenger departing internationally, add the Tourism Service Fee. Step 4 - subtract any exemption (infant not above 2 years, crew, qualifying transit). The result is the fixed charge portion already sitting inside your ticket.

Worked examples: a foreign tourist flying Kathmandu to Bangkok pays Rs 3,000 (PSC) + Rs 1,130 (Tourism Service Fee) = Rs 4,130 in bundled charges. A Nepali citizen on the same flight pays Rs 3,000 only. A family with a 1-year-old infant pays nothing extra for the infant. A domestic passenger from Kathmandu to Pokhara has Rs 500 bundled into the ticket, with no Tourism Service Fee. All figures are the published rates including 13% VAT where noted, and can change if CAAN or the NTB revises them, so confirm against the airport's current schedule for exact travel-date pricing.