Nepal, UAE sign agreement allowing 70 weekly flights
KATHMANDU, APR 17 -
Nepal and the United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) signed an enhanced bilateral air services agreement (ASA) on Tuesday permitting operation of 70 flights per week with any type of aircraft on a reciprocal basis. Under the old memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on Dec 27, 2007, designated carriers of the two countries were allowed to operate 28 weekly flights.
Moreover, the revised pact has given unlimited traffic rights for cargo-only flights with any type of aircraft. Cargo flights were fixed at 28 per week as per the past pact.
Likewise, the new accord has permitted third-party code-sharing by carriers of the two countries. For example, UAE -based carriers can pick up passengers to Nepal from Abu Dhabi who have been flown in by their code-share partners from a third country. Earlier, carriers were limited to bilateral code-sharing.
Code-sharing also allows passengers to travel to destinations not served by their preferred carriers. “This arrangement will help carriers to bring high-end tourists directly to Nepal from countries with which it is not connected by air service,” said Suresh Acharya, joint secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.
“The designated carriers of the UAE have agreed to encourage its third party code-share partners to promote Nepal in different forums.” Accordingly, UAE -based carriers have agreed to sign a separate pact with the Nepal Tourism Board to promote Nepal for mutual benefit.
In addition, the UAE has also pledged to support Nepal in human resource development in the field of aviation. Similarly, the two sides have agreed to hold consultations in 2015 to make air service more liberal. Nepal presently follows a liberal sky policy, and officials said that they would gradually move towards an open sky policy in the near future.
Middle East carriers in particular have been facing an air seat crunch due to rising movement of foreign tourists and Nepal i migrant workers for the last two years. To address their demand, the ministry had adopted a temporary operating permit (TOP) scheme for international airlines connecting Kathmandu in 2013, allowing 14 additional weekly flights to the respective countries facing a seat crunch.
UAE -based carriers were allowed 42 weekly flights under the TOP scheme. This arrangement has ended with the recent ASA revision.
At present, RAK Airways, Fly Dubai, Air Arabia and Etihad Airways connect Nepal and the UAE . Another UAE -based carrier Emirates Airline has also shown interest in serving Nepal , said the official who attended Monday’s meeting.
Sushil Ghimire, secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, and Omar Bin Ghaleb, deputy director general of the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective countries.
In 2011, there were 1.047 million inbound and outbound flyers on Middle East carriers, of which UAE carriers flew 491,775 travellers, or 18.22 percent, according to Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) statistics. UAE -based carriers held a 21.41 percent share of the cargo movement in 2011.
As of the present, Nepal has bilateral air services agreements with 36 countries. This provides 5.7 million seats per annum to and from Nepal . However, not even 40 percent of this capacity is being utilized by the operating airlines. Nepal is scheduled to revise the ASA with China in May.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
