Nepali delegation in Beijing to revise air services

Kathmandu: A seven-member delegation team from Nepal led by Suresh Acharya has reached Beijing to initiate talks with the Chinese counterparts to revise the bilateral air services agreement between Nepal and China.

According to the bilateral agreement reached and signed between Nepal and China on 25 February 2014, both the countries were supposed to operate international flights from and to any of the two countries.

However, despite the elapse of five years of the bilateral agreement between the two counties, China has unilaterally denied official permission to planes from Nepal to take off for China, specifying the reasons that Nepali planes need to undergo “a safety audit” before flying to China.

While the Nepali planes are not permitted to fly to China, several Chinese airline companies are operating their air services to Kathmandu. Chinese air services such as China Eastern, China Southern, Sinchuan Airlines, Air China and Tibet Airlines are operating direct flights to Nepal without any hurdles from Nepal Civil Aviation Department.

Nepal Air Corporation earlier had submitted all necessary documents to the Civil Aviation Administration Department of China to seek final approval to operate direct flights to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.

The formal talks between the Nepali delegation and the officials of the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration are to be held on 26-27 July 2019 in Beijing according to Ghanshyam Upadhaya, the spokesperson for Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.