-KATHMANDU
Air Asia X, Malaysian-based low-cost carrier Air Asia X has begun to clear the pending airport service fee to Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).
According to Highly Placed Source, the carrier has cleared Rs110 million in two installments out of the Rs400 million in dues it owes to TIA. General Manager for TIA, Raj Kumar Chettri said, the carrier owed Rs130 million in fines out of the total.
Earlier Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air Asia X Benyamin Ismail provided a written commitment to pay the dues to Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in 4 installment basis. After this commitment TIA has extend 4 additional months for Air Asia to pay the full debt of 40 million rupees. Ismail mailed TIA to pay the debt within end of July and after this commitment Airport management has become more flexible. Before this, TIA had warned the airline to ban the flights to Nepal if they failed to pay the due amount.
The Airport Service Charge Regulation states that, if an airline fails to pay its dues by the stipulated time, there is a provision for charging a penalty of 5 percent for 15 days, 15 percent for 16-30 days and 30 percent after that period. (PR).
