Draft
NAP underlines airfare mechanism
KATHMANDU, July 11
The draft National Aviation Policy (NAP) 2004 highlights
the need for a domestic fare based on factor as like
road accessibility, route sector, level of competition
and plane operation cost.
To discuss the draft, the Ministry of Culture,
Tourism and Civil Aviation and the Civil Aviation
authority of Nepal jointly organized a one-day interaction
program.
The draft forsees the expensive licensing of domestic
airlines for international flight, the inking of
additional international aviation agreements, a
restructuring of the Royal Nepal Airline Cooperation
and promotion of national and international charter
flights for tourism. The draft details new criteria
for importing planes. Imports of un-pressurized
planes more than 20 years old are banned. And imports
of planes to serve rural sectors are facilitated.
On the occasion, President of the Airlines Operators’
Association, Bikash Rana commented on the drawbacks
of the Aviation Policy 1993. He said that Entrepreneurs
cannot compete with international airlines due to
high taxes imposed by the government. Presenting
the draft, Medini Prasad Sharma, Joint Secretary
of the Ministry said that the government has focused
on developing a sound infrastructure for the development
of aviation sector in the country.
Aviation entrepreneurs have stressed the need for
a sound aviation policy to manage the domestic sector
efficiently and to enable it to compete with international
companies.
