The government is revising its rule regarding issuance of international flight licence to domestic airline companies.
The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) has prepared a draft called ‘Procedure for establishment of airlines or establishment of domestic airlines for international sector for international air service operation by private airlines in Nepal’ for the purpose.
As per the new procedure, a domestic air service provider will be eligible to receive a licence to conduct international flights without having to meet any other additional requirement if it has conducted regular flights for at least five years.
According to Ghanshyam Upadhyaya, spokesperson for MoCTCA, the revision is being made as the existing ‘Civil Aviation Procedure-2009′ was not relevant in the present context and needed to be changed. As per the old procedure, any domestic airline company or any entity that wanted to operate international flights could get a licence through open competition.
At present, international air traffic to and from Nepal continues to be dominated by foreign airlines, while Nepali carriers have been seeing their share of the pie shrink steadily. For instance, Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC)’s share in international air traffic in the last fiscal year stood at only around 10 per cent.
The government has a target to increase the share of Nepali carriers operating in international routes to 60 per cent with the introduction of the new procedure, as per Upadhyaya.
Currently, only three Nepali airline companies – the state-owned NAC and privately-owned Himalaya Airlines and Buddha Air – are operating international flights to and from Nepal. Though BB Airways has acquired a Boeing 757 aeroplane from NAC and holds an international air operating licence, it has not been able to give continuity to its international operations. Recently, Shree Airlines also expressed interest to get an international air operating licence from MoCTCA.
The draft of the procedure has already been endorsed by the infrastructure committee of the Cabinet and is now awaiting approval from the full Cabinet. After the Cabinet passes the procedure, it will come into implementation. As per Upadhyaya, once the procedure is endorsed by the Cabinet, the MoCTCA will open the bidding for airline companies that meet the criteria of having operated flights for at least five consecutive years.
Written by Sandeep
This news first appeared on https://thehimalayantimes.com/business/government-eyes-increasing-share-of-domestic-airlines-in-international-traffic/ under the title “Government eyes increasing share of domestic airlines in international traffic”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
