KATHMANDU, Oct 11: A technical team of the European Union (EU) has made positive observations about Nepal’s aviation safety following an audit of Nepal’s entire aviation safety sector.
A technical operation team of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) of the EU arrived in Nepal and carried out the audit from October 7 to 9. The three-member technical team of the EASA is scheduled to submit its report to Nepal on October 28, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) said.
CAAN would respond to the issues pointed out in the report.
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Spokesperson for CAAN, Jagannath Niraula expressed the confidence that the EU would remove Nepal from its air safety list since the technical team was positive about Nepal’s aviation safety adding that the team has studied and interacted about the progress Nepal made in the area of aviation safety.
“CAAN would respond to the issues raised in the report and the final decision to remove Nepal from EU’s air safety list would be decided once the final report is submitted to the EU,” according to Spokesperson Niraula.
The EU has kept Nepal on its air safety list for the past one decade due to which the airline companies registered in Nepal are not allowed to operate flights to EU member states. As a result the aircraft of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) and Himalaya Airlines are not allowed to conduct their flights to the EU sky but the aircraft from EU member states could use Nepal’s sky in an accessible manner.
Niraula claimed that the technical team is satisfied after the technical studies and consultations with CAAN officials.
The EU technical team carried out its audit based on different aspects including International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) audit report that puts Nepal above the global average, Civil Aviation (Investigation of Accident) Regulation passed from the Council of Ministers and others.
CAAN stated that the EU technical team conducted its assessment on eight areas including legislation, personal licensing, flight operation, accident investigation, air navigation services, aerodrome and ground aides and others.
(CB Adhikari/ RSS)
