India Invites Nepal To Review Air Service Pact

In a remarkable development after the hijacking incidence of the Indian Airlines plane in December last year, for the first time the Indian government has invited the government of Nepal to review the bilateral air service agreement between the two nations.

"The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has received a proposal from its Indian counterpart to discuss various issues concerning the bilateral air service agreement between the two nations, which includes a proposal to increase the existing seat agreement," Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal director-general Nagendra Prasad Ghimire said.

The proposal has been currently processed by the government and likely to get Cabinet approval by the end of this month, he said adding that soon after the Cabinet clearance, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal would initiate a dialogue with its Indian counterpart, he said.

 

According to Ghimire, both the governments are willing to increase the number of flights between the two countries and increase the number of seats from the existing 6,000 per week.

"The two parties are willing to negotiate on capacity entitlements, re-frame the route schedule agreements to include more destinations and amend certain clauses of the air service agreement," he said.

The dialogue between the two countries is likely to raise the issue of security in Tribhuvan International Airport specially in the light of the hijacking incident in December last year, which was followed by the cancellation of all flights of Indian Airlines to Nepal.

However, the Government of India has decided to resume the Indian Airlines flights from June 1.

Stating that the security arrangements at the airport has been improved, Ghimire said, "It was an emotional reaction. But now the situation has improved as the Indian government has decided to resume the Indian Airlines flights from June," he said.

Besides the proposed increase of the number of flights to India and increasing the number of seats per week under the bilateral agreement, the Nepal government is also planning to rationalise its existing domestic civil aviation policy.

So far, Nepal has been able to use only 3,810 seats per week out of a total of 6,000 seats available to it as per the bilateral agreement, according to an industry source.

Its official carrier, Royal Nepal Airlines, is currently availing 3,200 seats and 610 seats are being utilised by the country's private airlines _ Necon Air Ltd, the source said.

About 2,000 seats are allocated to two other private airlines _ Alpine Air and Air Nepal, which exist on papers only, the source said, adding that the two companies had been awarded the licence to operate flights between Nepal and India four years ago and till now they do not have a single aircraft.

Accepting that the two private airlines failed to fulfill their licence agreement, Ghimire said that the government will soon allocate the seats to other interested parties who can operate flights between the two countries without delay.