CAAN posts record profit

KATHMANDU,Jan 1:

Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) mobilized all time high revenue of Rs 3.6 billion and profit of Rs 1.41 billion in 2013/14.

Speaking at a program organized to celebrate 16th anniversary of CAAN, Ratish Chandra Lal Suman, director general of CAAN, the aviation sector regulator revoked Air Operators Certificate (AOC) of 42 airlines this year.

At present, 17 airlines, 10 fixed wings and 7 rotary wings, hold license for air service operation.

Nepal has not been able to utilize the number of seats it produces annually based on air service agreements (ASA) that it has signed with other countries. According to Suman, only 3.14 million seats of the available 5.982 million seats have been utilized.


According to CAAN, six airports are under construction in different parts of the country. Once these airports start service, the number of airports in the country will reach 56. Of these airports, only 32 are providing regular servic“.
"A team of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) gave some concrete suggestions to us last week. We have already started implementing them," Suman said, adding, "As per an agreement signed with ICAO, we will be hiring air worthiness/flight operation expert for one year and personal licensing expert for 6 months."

Suman also said he was hopeful that ICAO will remove Nepal from significant safety concerns (SSC) status. "Based on that, we believe that European Union will remove us from the blacklist by the end of November”2015".
CAAN awarded its manager Uttar Kumar Kafle with the best employee award. He received cash prize of Rs 51,000. Similarly, CAAN awarded Jet Airways, Buddha Air and Tara Air as best international airlines, domestic airlines and airlines serving remote sector, respectively. Similarly, Bharatpur Airport and Tenzing Hillary airport, Lukla were named the best airports of 2014.

CAAN employees boycott 16th anniversary
Four trade unions and seven professional bodies affiliated with Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) boycotted the 16th anniversary celebration.
Daman Rawal, president of the authorized CAAN Employee Trade Union, urged employees to boycott the program. Following which, all the employees left the program venue.

"We want an end to organizational and policy corruption in CAAN," Rawal said.

Claiming that CAAN employees were not getting benefits on par with employees of other public enterprises, trade unions have demanded that the CAAN management provide all employees bonus equivalent to one-month salary.

Source: Republica