Nepal, Bhutan revise air service agreement

KATHMANDU, MAY 18 - Nepal and Bhutan on Saturday revised the bilateral air services agreement (ASA), increasing the flights between the two countries by three folds, with an immediate effect.

According to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, the two countries agreed to increase the passenger flight frequency to 21 per week, with any type of aircraft whether owned or leased. The two countries had signed the ASA in February 2004, which had allowed seven weekly flights.

Nepal’s Tourism Ministry Secretary Sushil Ghimire and Bhutan’s Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communications Kinley Dorji signed a memorandum of understanding on behalf of their respective governments in Thimphu, Bhutan.

The revised ASA has accepted the multiple designation system, under which there won’t be any restriction on any carrier of the two countries to fly to each other’s destinations.

Earlier, the single designation system had permitted only Bhutan’s national flag carrier Druk Air to operate flights to Kathmandu ’s Tribhuvan International Airport, while Nepali private carrier Buddha Air was enjoying the same rights in Bhutan.

“The agreement has also eliminated royalties being charged on passengers and cargo along the Kathmandu -Delhi sector for the airlines designated by Bhutan,” Suresh Acharya, joint-secretary at the ministry, said over the phone from Bhutan. Currently, Druk Air pays $10 as royalty for every passenger it picks up in Kathmandu and flies to New Delhi.

However, the Nepali delegation did not accept a request to allow Bhutanese airlines to connect Bagdogra and Bodhgaya of Indian to Kathmandu under the fifth freedom rights as the case has been under the Supreme Court’s consideration. The fifth freedom rights grant an airline the right to carry passengers from or to Nepal from a country other than Bhutan.

The Nepali side expressed its willingness to take benefit on this sector through the code share arrangement between the designated airlines of both the countries, Acharya said. The Bhutanese side expressed their desire to make use of the training facilities run by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. “In response, the Nepali delegation offered Bhutan opportunities to avail training courses provided by the Civil Aviation Academy, Kathmandu , in different subject areas of civil aviation,” he said. Both the parties agreed to enhance technical cooperation in the field of civil aviation, exchange of technical expertise, tourism promotion, and other related matters.

Ministry officials said they moved ahead with the revision of the bilateral ASA at the request of Bhutan, as its first private airline Tashi Air (also known as Bhutan Airlines) plans to connect Nepal too. Tashi Air plans to connect Nepal from mid-June with four weekly flights, said ministry officials.

Tashi Air, a subsidiary of the Tashi Group, was launched on Dec 4, 2011. It made its first international flights to India and Thailand on Oct 10, 2013.

Buddha Air launched commercial flights to Paro on August 23, 2010, with its 19-seater Beechcraft 1900D and became the first international airline to enter Bhutan. However, due to technical problems, it was forced to abandon the service.

There has been a series of ASA revisions with several countries in recent months. On Feb 24, the government signed a revised ASA with China permitting the operation of 56 flights per week with any type of aircraft.

On April 16, 2013, Nepal and the UAE signed an enhanced ASA permitting operation of 70 flights per week with any type of aircraft.

Nepal has signed bilateral ASAs with 36 countries since 1963. This provides 5.7 million seats per annum to and from Nepal. However, less than 40 percent of this capacity is being utilized. Presently, 27 international airlines are operating flights from Kathmandu to 22 cities in Asia and Europe.