The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) is yet to recover dues of over Rs 570 million from airlines operators. The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had ordered CAAN to recover the money a year ago, a report said.

Rajdhani Daily reported that the CAAN has been able to recover only Rs 30 million by the end of 2005. The dues of 60 companies had crossed Rs 600 million last year. The CIAA had ordered to take strong measures to recover the money after it received several appeals that the CAAN would go bankrupt if it could not do so.

The dues include grounded charges, flight charges, parking and housing charges.

The report said that Royal Nepal Airlines has dues of over Rs 448.9 million, Royal Nepal Army has Rs 949,000, Gorkha Airlines Rs 5.4 million, Karnali Airlines Rs 2.5 million, Skylines Rs 3 million, Necon Airlines Rs 43.6 million, Air Ananya Rs 5.1 million, Cosmic Rs 8.9 million, Nepal Airways Rs 1.1 million and Simrik Air over Rs 90, 000.

The report quoted a source at the CIAA as saying that the due figures was as of the mid-January last year. It would have increased by now, the source said.

President of Airlines Operators Association of Nepal, Bikash Rana, said the airline operators have not been able to clear their dues due to various reasons. He said the charges are high, laws are not transparent and the market environment for airlines is not favourable.