Himalaya Airlines, an international air carrier has paid 10 Million pending dues of the airport service charge to Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) yesterday.
Raj Kumar Chhetri, General Manager of TIA stated that Himalaya Airlines has paid 10 Million and had made written commitment to pay NRs 75 lakhs monthly as an installment to TIA.
Previously, the carrier had been ignoring to pay the pending dues though TIA sent a follow-upo letter repeatedly.
According to the airport officials, the due of Himalaya Airlines was upto 230 Million (NRs 23 crore) till March.
Chhetri stated that the due will be about 250 Million by adding the bill amount of April month.
He said that the carrier had paid only 60 Million (NRs 6 crore) in one year of period.
The carrier had not paid the airport service fee since July, 2018.
“On January 12, it paid NRs. 5 million (USD 44,058), asking for some more time to clear all dues,” he added.
Likewise, the carrier paid NRs. 1 crore of the service charges to TIA on February 20, 2019. The airline paid the amount through cheque after receiving notice from TIA to take legal action as the carrier continuously failed to pay dues. According to the Airport Service Charge Regulation 2067, the responsibility of collecting airport service charge goes to the chief of the airport who has to submit a statement to head office every month.
Those who fail to dispatch airport service charge within 60 days from the generation of bill then the airport chief can halt their business whereas in case of airline operators, the flight will be restricted.
In addition, the authority can blacklist the business and airline operators if they fail to pay the airport service charge and act beyond the rules, regulations, and agreement of the authority. In such case, the business and airline operators will be restricted to run any businesses at the airport.
