The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) is going to adjust the domestic flight fares after a hiatus of four years.
Gyanendra Bhul, information officer of the CAAN, said that the civil aviation authority is going to reduce the fares to remote areas. For this purpose, it has formed a study team and proceeded with the study, he said. The report studied by the team will soon be submitted to Parliament through the Ministry of Tourism.
Bhul mentioned that looking at the remote destinations and that the authority is going to reactivate the Remote Area Air Service Fund, which was established two decades ago. “According to Civil Aviation Authority Regulation 2058, we have moved forward with a plan to support the airline by re-operating remote area air service funds,” he said.
Bhul said that there is a plan to implement the rule that if the fund is carrying less than 70 percent of passengers, the remaining amount will be taken from the fund. Along with this, the company that flies to remote destinations will arrange a discount on the customs fee.
Earlier, four dollars per passenger in hilly areas and two dollars in other areas were kept in the fund. In this way, Rs 2.5 million rupees was raised. But it was stopped due to a dispute over the distribution.
A decade ago, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) had given a discount of Rs 7 per liter on aviation fuel for airlines flying to difficult destinations. At present, Tara, Summit, Sita and Nepal Airlines Corporation have three, four, two and two aircraft, respectively, flying to critical destinations in the country.
