Civil aviation authority of Nepal (CAAN) has decided to take international initiative step to raise airport service charge of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) from airlines especially international airline companies.
After AirAsiaX, Malaysian low-cost airline company has closed the regular flight service without clearing dues and TIA suffered huge loss. According to CAAN, along with AirAsiaX which left to clear due amount of more than NRs 20 Crore of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and Nepal Tourism Board, more than 2 dozens airlines are left for clearing dues. Similarly, Gulf Air has left to pay more than NRs 2 crore.
Raj Kumar Chhetri, General Manager of TIA stated that there are more than 2 dozens which have closed services without clearing dues. ” we have started to international pressure to raise money and there are some international organizations where we are affiliated with it,” he said, adding that such institutions will be forced to pay if we write letter and send them.
The officials of Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) said that there is no problem in raising service charge from those airlines which are operating flights but the problem in raising money is when the airlines have not clear due for long time. The ministry said that the official of related bodies are allowed to take action if the airlines delay in clearing dues.
The domestic and international airlines companies should pay service charge to CAAN, ground handling charge to Nepal airlines corporation and tourism fee to Nepal Tourism Board.
As per the Airport Service Charge Regulation, any airline that fails to pay its dues on time can be slapped with a penalty of five per cent for the next 15 days, 15 per cent for the period between 16 and 30 days of the due date and 30 per cent thereafter.
