The Civil Aviation Office of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIACAO) has issued a public notice calling over two dozen International and Domestic airline operators to come up with their dues by the mid December this year.
Not only the airline operators but also the business stakeholders at the airport are required to pay the dues for the services provided by TIA. Previously, the dues soared high up to Rs3billion then gradually it decreased to Rs2.5 billion after the airline operators cleared some and now it is reported to be around Rs1.94billion.
The airline operators both international and domestic have not cleared their dues that is generated from passenger service charge, landing/parking charge, airport development fee, security fee and so on. Besides, TIA is still to collect pending fees from the airport business operations such as shops, food stalls, vehicle parking and others.
International airlines who earn substantial revenue flying to and fro Nepal are still to pay the outstanding fees to TIA. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has also circulated concern over the rocketing dues issues and is studying the case.
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 statement to head office every month. Likewise, 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.
