Kathmandu, Jan. 8: With the government adopting an open sky policy, Nepal’s aviation industry has witnessed an unprecedented growth in both the domestic and international fronts within a short span of time. In 1999, aircraft and passenger movement went up by 330 and 313 per cent respectively as compared to 1991 in the domestic sector. There was only one airline—Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC)—to operate flights in the domestic sector. Currently, 17 different airlines, including RNAC, have been operating flights to various destinations of the country. The number of air operators receiving air operator certificate (AOC) stands at 32, and some others are also said to be in the pipeline to be granted AOCs.

In the international front, the movement of aircraft and passengers increased by 13 and 41 per cent respectively in 1999 compared to the figures for 1991. Fourteen foreign airlines and two national ones (RNAC and Necon Air) are operating scheduled flights to and from Kathmandu to international destinations. Now Nepal has air links with several countries. The number of countries having air links with Nepal is likely to further increase as the country has already signed Air Services Agreements (ASAs) and Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) with 31 different countries. As per the agreements signed between Nepal and the other countries, the number of available two-way seats stands at 3,825,432 annually. But out of 73,566 weekly seats available, only 20,223 seats (27.5 per cent) are utilised.

Despite the mushrooming airlines in the country, air services are not easily accessible to the people living in the remote parts of the country. As per the country’s aviation regulations, the private sector airlines have to operate 40 per cent of the total flights to the service sector and the remaining ones to the tourist sector. But they are not found to be adhering to the regulations.

“Aviation policy needs to be amended so as to strictly regulate the aviation sector to ensure air safety, reliability and security. It has also to be made more comprehensive so that the implementing authority can implement it in an effective manner,” Medini Prasad Sharma, Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), told The Rising Nepal.

Sharma, however, says that CAAN is planning to review policies to attract the private sector airlines to the service sector. CAAN has forwarded a proposal to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation to set up a fund by levying certain amount of money under social sector service charge from tourists travelling to the tourist sectors by air.

“The fund will be utilised to subsidise the costs of service sector flights. As the airlines suffer heavy losses while flying to the service sector, they are reluctant to operate flights.”

“Once this policy comes into effect, private sector airlines will be more than happy to fly in the service sector. This will help narrow the gap of regional imbalance,” Sharma believes.

He also says that the remaining fund generated from the service sector charge will be spent for upgrading the airports in the remote parts of the country.

When the airlines start operating regular flights to the destinations in the service sector, the areas may also be promoted as touristic sites gradually. This may contribute to the social and economic development of those areas.

He emphasises the need to develop strong mechanism to regulate the airlines so that they can contribute to the country’s development endeavours. He is of the opinion that the government must see whether the air operators have a long-term plan or not before issuing an AOC.

“The government has also to pay attention to the investment and safety aspects of the airlines. Priority must be given to those having more equity of the Nepalese,” he says.

He says the government has to take overall responsibility of the airlines, as it is the contracting party to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) convention.

The proposed amendments in the aviation policy is also said to include streamlining the activities of the airlines with provisions for passengers making contributions to safety factor. It also incorporates uniformity in airfare among the passengers from all the SAARC countries.

Due to rapid growth of airlines, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), the only gateway to the country, seems to be congested. A few weeks back, an aircraft of Necon Air collided with another from its fleet on the ground at TIA. “Since the number of aircraft and frequencies has increased considerably, there are both air and ground congestion at TIA,” he accepts.

He expresses the hope that after the implementation of the social sector service charge, the problem of congestion will be solved. “This is because the aircraft will go to the hub airports to operate flights in the service sector.”

When asked about the situation of manpower for the aviation industry of Nepal, he says that the aviation sector may face a severe shortage of efficient manpower if proper initiative is not taken in time in this regard.

A lot of expert hands from RNAC have joined the private airlines after the government adopted the open sky policy in 1992. “Because of the lack of training centres and schools to train manpower for the aviation sector, airlines may have to witness a shortage of manpower in the years to come.”

He urges the private airlines to be ready to contribute to the production of aviation manpower. He says the government and CAAN have policies to extend necessary support to the airlines to produce manpower.

Regarding the bird-strike problem, which appeared during August-October last year at TIA and some other airports, he informs that a high-level committee under the chairmanship of the Secretary of MoCTCA has already been formed to devise a master plan to control the bird hazards in an effective and sustainable manner.

“As it is related to many factors such as sanitation of the locality, habitat of birds, all the concerned agencies and residents living around the airport need to make efforts.”

He says the efforts of the airport authority alone will be insufficient to tackle the problem. He says the master plan will define the role of all the concerned to address the problem permanently.

As per the government’s liberal air policy, Necon Air has been allowed to fly to some sectors of India. To involve more airlines to fly on the international routes, the government has forwarded the process of selecting the capable ones. It is also restructuring the international air routes to encourage the private sector airlines to operate international and regional routes.

CAAN has devised both the short-term and long-term plans. One of its plans is to improve TIA and other airports. It has also plans to install the satellite-based safety equipment such as Enhanced Global Positioning Warning System (EGPWS), Conflict Flight Into Terrain (CFIT), among others. Besides, it is extending the coverage of radar to improve the air traffic control services.

As someone having a long experience in the aviation sector, which is directly related to tourism, he says that the Maoist insurgency, hijacking of a plane of the Indian Airlines, hotel management-employee conflicts, the Hrithik Roshan scam, bird hazard at the airports and media’s negative attitude caused negative growth in tourist arrivals last year.