Nepal’s airlines uncertain over EC restriction review

Nepali airlines are not certain when they will be removed from the air safety list of the European Commission (EC) allowing them to operate in the region because its technical team has still not arrived to assess their status, media reported.

The EC had agreed to send a team to Nepal in September to evaluate the status of Nepali airlines and their improvement towards safety measures. The team was expected to prepare a report and submit it to its committee meeting in November to decide whether Nepal should be removed from the air safety list, The Kathmandu Post reported.

“The visit was slated for September. It is already October, but there is no word from the EC about when they will be coming,” said an official of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), adding, “We had sent all the documents to satisfy the concerns of the EC with evidence regarding the improvements Nepal has made to address air safety deficiencies, but we have not received a reply. This indicates that Nepali airlines will not be removed from the air safety list any time soon.”

In December 2013, the EC issued a ban against Nepali airlines preventing them from expanding to EU cities after finding regulatory oversight to be inadequate. The airline industry fears that a continuation of the ban will hurt it, as they plan to extend their network to Europe.

According to CAAN, the EC has indicated that it is not happy with the Nepal government’s lack of progress on making a law to split the regulatory body as envisaged. Currently, CAAN is functioning both as regulator and service provider from the same office, and there is no clear demarcation between its duties and organisational structure.

In June, while receiving the council president certificate from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) headquarters in Montreal, Civil Aviation Minister Rabinder Adhikari had promised to complete the process of enacting the Integrated Civil Aviation Bill to split CAAN within a year. Although the cabinet has given the goahead to the ministry to prepare a draft of the bill, it is expected to take years to pass the law and split CAAN into two entities, said CAAN officials.