Tamish Giri

February 8: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the aviation regulatory body of Nepal, on Monday (February 8) issued an ultimatum to 11 defunct airline companies to clear their pending dues of Rs 90 million within 30 days.
Issuing a public notice on February 8, CAAN warned the airline companies that it would take severe action if they fail to clear the dues within the deadline.
Raj Kumar Chhetri, deputy director-general and spokesperson of CAAN, informed New Business Age that the regulatory body had previously issued the notice three months ago and had informed the stakeholders about it. However, none of the airlines paid the dues.

“We received enquiries from some airline operators who mentioned that they had sold the company long back and requested to remove their name from the list. We have requested them to bring their documents and meet our finance department regarding it. We want to help them, but they have to clear their pending dues to the government. They don’t have any other alternatives,” he said.
CAAN has warned the airline companies that it would blacklist them and their owners under the Civil Aviation Airport Management Regulation 2011, prohibiting them from operating flights, entering airports and participating in any businesses associated with CAAN in the future, if they don’t clear the pending dues in time.
CAAN has also warned of confiscating the properties of those who guaranteed to pay the dues in case the operators failed to do so.
The regulatory body published the first public notice on February 8 after the airline companies did not clear their dues even after repeated notification.
CAAN has asked to pay the outstanding amount and late fee within 30 days.
The airlines that have not cleared the dues include Necon Air, Shivani Air, Alpine Air, Gorkha Air, Karnali Air, Mountain Air, Cosmic Air, Shangrila Air, Skyline Airways, Air Kasthamandap and Nepal Airways. None of these airlines has been in operation since 2008.
The airlines have to pay a combined fee of Rs 96.874 million to the CAAN.
According to the public notice published by CAAN, Neccon has to pay Rs 47 million, Shiwani Air Rs 5.5 million, Alpine Air Rs 72,728, Gorkha Air Rs 2.03 million, Karnali Air Rs 1.74 million, Mountain Air Rs 1.2 million, Cosmic Air Rs 34.7 million, Shangrila Air Rs 1.53 million, Skyline Air Rs 1.55 million, Air Kasthamandap Rs 0.73 million and Nepal Airways Rs 0.55 million.
“Some international operators also have not cleared their dues, and we will make a public statement soon regarding them,” Chhetri informed.
Sahara, Kingfisher and Jet Airways are yet to clear their pending bills to the CAAN.
"We urge the airline operators to clear the dues abiding by the law," Chhetri added.