Airline operators threaten to ground all their aircraft from Wednesday

Kathmandu / June 21: The Airlines Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN) has threatened to halt all regular flights beginning Wednesday if their five-point demand is not addressed by the government.

Organizing a press conference on Tuesday, the AOAN has announced plans to suspend regular operation of all flights including those of helicopters, demanding that the government introduce long-term measures to resolve the problems seen in the country’s aviation sector.

The AOAN has demanded the government revoke the decision to hike the fees of landing, parking and navigation as provisioned by the Airport Service Fee Regulations 2078 BS. It has also demanded the government authorities make available long-term helipads, hangars for the maintenance of helicopters and other necessary infrastructures on the premises of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu.

The protest of the AOAN comes in the wake of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) unveiling a mandatory provision for the night-stop parking to 34 aircraft including 14 helicopters outside the Kathmandu Valley, citing the lack of sufficient space at the TIA. The AOAN has demanded the CAAN scrap the new provision and allow them to operate as before without any obstructions from Kathmandu.

Among other things, the airlines operators have demanded the government to take initiatives to remove Nepali flag carriers from the backlist of the European Union (EU) and allow the airline companies to use the infrastructures they built on the TIA premises after receiving due permission from the authorities concerned as before without any obstruction.