The government has demanded Himalaya Airlines to clear pending dues immediately. Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) has sent letter to Himalaya Airlines after the carrier has delayed in paying the service fee of the airport.
Earlier, the TIA official sent letter asking to pay the dues till Saturday. However, after not clearing the dues, TIA has again sent letter to the airline company.
Himalaya Airlines has to pay the service fees of about 8 months. The pending dues of the carrier is around NRs 20 crore including fine for delay in clearing dues.
Raj Kumar Chhetri, General Manager of TIA stated that the company has agreed to pay but still there is a lot to pay service fees. “We have asked the carrier to pay as soon as possible.” he said.
He also informed that TIA will go to legal process for further delay. TIA will ground or halt all flight operation same as Saurya Airlines if the carrier is unable to pay the dues.
“We have sent the letter by warning to ground all the aircraft to Himalaya airlines,” he said.
Previously, the carrier asked 10 days for clearing of pending dues of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). The carrier paid NRs. 5 Million to TIA on January 12.
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.
The airline had promised to pay the dues to the airport for a long time and after the airline was unable to pay the due amount, the airport had been decreasing the operation hour of the airline.
