Officials from Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) and Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) are meeting members of the European Commission (EC) in Brussels, Belgium today to explain the progress made by Nepal in safety issues raised by European Union (EU).
A six-member team led by CAAN’s Director Mr. Sanjeev Gautam and Secretary from MoCTCA is attending the meet today. As per the information, the officials have essential evidences to address the safety issues raised by EC but it is not that easy to convince EC as they will be requiring complex clarifications on the improvements being made by Nepal.
If EC are convinced then the chance of removal from European Union (EU) blacklist will be high.
The European Union (EU) updated its blacklist chart on November 30 this year in which Nepali Aviation is once again enlisted. CAAN had sent some reports on progress made by the Nepali aviation to the European Commission however, EC has not lifted the ban on Nepali Airline operators pointing out the issues in air operating certificate, training and licensing, aircraft accident investigation and CAAN’s institutional capacity.
The EC will be asking the officials to provide status of compliance with safety recommendations made by investigation committees in the past. The meeting will also cover the progress made on issues that was not covered by ICAO last July.
Previously, the attending officials from CAAN and MoCTCA said they were positive and said that the proposed meeting in Brussels could be decisive as Nepal could strongly show the progress made to address the safety deficiencies pointed out by the EC four years ago. Also, they committed to request EU to remove the ban on Nepali Airlines. The EC had imposed the operational ban on all airlines from Nepal from entering European airspace in December 2013.
