Flight booking

Bhutan now has two airlines operating flights in and out of Paro; Drukair, Royal Bhutan Airlines and Tashi Air, Bhutan Airlines. Drukair is a national carrier and is a private airline that started their operation in 2013. Bhutan has only one international airport at Paro which is about an hour drive from the capital of Bhutan, Thimphu. There are also some new domestic routes in operation with domestic airports at Batpalathang in Bumthang, Yongphula in eastern Bhutan (close to Tashigang) and Gelephu in the south of the country.

You can book your seats in flight online by yourself with both Drukair and Tashi Air but we suggest you to let us make the booking for you as we don’t charge for this service. If you buy the tickets from the airline websites you have to pay for them on purchase whereas we can hold the seats for you for a period without commitment while we discuss your itinerary with you and you take the time to finalize your travel plans. Also, if we book the seats for you, we get advance notice of timing changes, we can assist you with ticketing changes and we will also reconfirm your flights for you automatically as long as we have made the booking for you.

We do not provide international ticketing services so you will need to arrange your own international flights to your chosen point of entry to Bhutan. You should wait until we have confirmed your reservations in and out of Paro before you make long haul bookings. Note that the airline schedules for Bhutan flights are subject to change and often at very short notice so if you can arrange flexible long-haul tickets is advisable.  We advise that you leave about 6 hours connection time or plan an overnight stay each end of your trip before and after flying to Bhutan.

The airlines in Bhutan does not take any responsibility for the impact of timing changes or cancellations on any other flight reservations, and we also cannot do the same, which means that you will have to bear the cost of any changes to your travel plans caused by changes to the schedules of airlines of Bhutan.

You can have a look at the schedules on the Druk Air website and the Tashi Air websiteto help you plan your trip.

Flight Timings and Routings

The timings vary depending on direct and stopover flight but the general timings and main international routings used to fly in and out of Paro are as follows:

  • Calcutta – Paro: 55 minutes
  • Delhi – Paro: 2 hours 20 minutes (or 3 hours 20 minutes with stopover)
  • Bagdogra – Paro: 30 minutes
  • Guwahati – Paro: 55 minutes
  • Kathmandu – Paro: 55 minutes
  • Dhaka – Paro: 55 minutes
  • Bangkok – Paro: 3 hours 15 minutes (or 4 to 4 and a half hours with stopover)
  • Singapore – Paro: 5 hours 55 minutes (with stopover)

Prices 
The price of Druk Air and Tashi flights is charged on top of the tour price and the flight prices fluctuates daily as per the US$ exchange rates because the seats are priced in local currency but must be paid for in US$. Hence, you can ask us for the tentative price during the time booking. The flight prices for SAARC nationalities are quoted INR or BTN and slightly lesser than the US$ paying passengers.

Baggage allowance

The baggage allowance is 30 kg in economy class and 40 kg in business class.

Travelling Overland

It is also possible to enter or leave Bhutan by road via Phuntsholing on the Indian border in the south-west. Phuntsholing is five hours drive from the nearest Indian airport in Bagdogra in West Bengal, and about ten hours’ drive from Thimphu which means it is advisable for you to hold an overnight in Phuntsholing. If you would like to combine a trip to Bhutan with Darjeeling or Sikkim or Assam, travelling overland is the best advantage.

We also arrange pickup and drop to the nearest railway stations to Phuntsholing such as Hasimara Railway Station (6 hours from Thimphu), Alipurduar Railway Junction (7 hours from Thimphu), Siliguri (6 hours from Phuntsholing) and Bagdogra (5 hours from Phuntsholing). There will be a shift of transportation between India and Bhutan as Bhutanese drivers face challenges to drive on the Indian roads so we arrange Indian vehicles for the pickup and drop from Phuntsholing.