Govt’s plan to review air routes gathers dust

KATHMANDU, JAN 11 -

The government’s plan to review cross-border air routes with India seems to have been put on the back burner.

Officials at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation said Minister Deepak Chandra Amatya has put the airspace agenda “on ice”.

A bilateral meeting was scheduled for November last year, but due to preparations for the Saarc Summit, it was postponed for December. “So far, nothing has progressed as the minister himself is not interested in taking the agenda ahead,” said a ministry official. “The agenda is gathered dust on the minister’s desk.”

After a long time, the airspace agenda was endorsed during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Nepal visit in August. The prime ministers of the two countries had directed the authorities concerned to meet within six months to resolve the issue.

Nepal had twice proposed a date for the meeting, but India did not respond. Subsequently, a Nepalese delegation was scheduled to visit India to hold talks, but the meeting was not held due to “busy schedule” of the Indian officials.

“The frequent postponement of the meeting and the minister’s acts signify weaker aviation diplomacy,” the ministry officials added.

Nepal proposed a revision to the airspace agreement to provide more cross-border entry and exit points for airlines that will be serving the proposed Second International Airport (SIA) in Bara, Nijgadh, and regional international airports in Bhairahawa and Pokhara.

The government has requested India to allow three more air entry points in Janakpur, Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj.

A joint communiqué issued by the two sides at the end of Indian Prime Minister Modi’s visit said: “The cross-border direct routes will facilitate flights between regional airports in Pokhara and Bhairahawa, and this will save time and money for air travellers and also improve air connectivity between India and Nepal.”

Presently, Simara is the only route for aircraft flying into Nepal. It is used by almost all the airlines and has been suffering from air traffic congestion.

Two other entry points, Kakkarbhitta and Nonim, have been specially designated for planes coming from Bhutan and China, respectively. Nepal offers more than six exit points for aircraft. They are Bhairahawa, Biratnagar, Kakkarbhitta, Nepalgunj, Janakpur and Dhangadhi.

As international airlines connecting Kathmandu use the Simara route, which is the shortest, aircraft have to make their descent and ascent in the Indian airspace during arrival and departure, respectively. As per the bilateral air service agreement between Nepal and India, aircraft entering Nepal are allowed to maintain an elevation of 21,000 ft.

The provision is practical for making a descent to Kathmandu ’s Tribhuvan International Airport, but aircraft serving SIA will have to make a spiral descent, or circle the sky, to land at the airport from the given elevation.

On September 10, 2009, Nepali and Indian aviation authorities revised the air service agreement and signed a technical accord permitting Indian carriers to increase their weekly seat capacity to 30,000 from 6,000 over the two countries’ airspace.

The importance of air routes was realized when the plans of Nepali carriers to expand cross-border flights were thwarted by the absence of adequate entry points.

Nepali carrier Buddha Air had to abandon its plan to operate Pokhara-Bhairahawa-Lucknow flights due to the air route problem. It had been allowed to fly from Pokhara to Lucknow; but on the return flight, it had to enter Nepal through the Simara point which made the service economically unviable.

Source: The Kathmandu Post