Friday, April 26, 2024
Kathmandu: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale, has requested European Ambassador to Nepal, Nona Deprez, to lift ban on Nepal from EU's safety list.
A discussion was held on it between Minister Ale and Ambassador Deprez at the ministry today, according to Minister's personal secretary, Manoj Adhikari.
Minister Ale reminded the EU Ambassador that Nepal's aviation sector was safe now. He further said Nepal's score was 70.1 percent on implementation of safety on eight categories set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which Minister Ale argued, was above the average.
"Nepali aviation is safe as per ICAO's indicators. Now, EU is requested for lifting the ban on Nepal's aviation," he underscored.
EU had blacklisted Nepal's aviation sector reasoning poor safety eight years back. However, the ICAO has already lifted the ban on Nepal with its improved safety indictors. EU had demanded further qualification and training of Nepali pilots to meet international standard.
On the occasion, Director General at Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, engineer Pradip Kumar Adhikari, informed the Ambassador that Nepal had managed training and qualification of pilots in line with international criteria.
Currently, Nepal Airlines, Buddha Air and Himalaya Airlines are ready for the international flight and waiting EU's nod.
