The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has annulled the registration of two airplanes of Necon Air kept unused at Tribhuvan International Airport for the last three years, reports said.

The authority had seized two ATR-100 aircraft of Necon Air after the airlines failed to settle dues of Rs 45 million it owes to CAAN for landing and parking fees.

The authorities had agreed to release the planes only after the Cabinet Ministers directed CAAN to recover the amount from promoters of the airlines as per the legal arrangement made to retrieve the government dues.

The promoters of Necon Air are Deep Mani Rajbhandari, Binod Bahadur Shrestha, Divya Mani Rajbhandari, Mukunda Bhakta Shrestha, DR Koirala and Rabindra Shrestha.

“We have annulled the registration of two airplanes as per the decision made by the cabinet,” the Kantipur daily quoted Director General of CAAN, Rajesh Raj Dali as saying.

The cabinet had taken the decision three months ago upon the request of French aircraft manufacturing company, ATR. Along with the directive, the cabinet has also instructed the authorities to initiate action against staff of CAAN who had failed to collect the parking and landing fees at regular basis.

Necon Air, the first and the only airline of the country to list its name in the stock market, currently owes a total of Rs 280 million, in principle and interest, to Nepal Industrial and Commercial (NIC) Bank, Himalayan Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank and Nepal Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank. Apart from this, it also owes millions of rupees to it employees.