Halla Sansaar (हल्ला संसार)

EC puts Nepali airlines on blacklist

KATHMANDU, DEC 06 -

In potentially a major setback to Nepal’s aviation industry, the European Commission (EC) has banned all Nepal-based airlines from flying in the European Union, terming them “unsafe”.

Although none of the Nepali carriers fly to the 28-nation bloc, the consequences of the ban will be real and visible on travellers from Europe to Nepal, who will be informed not to fly on any of the Nepali carriers.

In a statement on Thursday, the EC said European operators and travel agents will need to inform European travellers, who will have a right to reimbursement if they had booked a seat on a Nepali carrier as part of a journey to Nepal, and decide not to use it.

“The current safety situation in Nepal does not leave us any other choice than to put all of its carriers on the EU air-safety list,” European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said in the statement issued in Brussels. “We do hope that this ban will help the aviation authorities to improve aviation safety.”

On the basis of the safety information from various sources and a hearing both with the Nepali aviation authorities as well as with a number of Nepali carriers, the EC decided to put all airlines from Nepal on the EU air safety list.

On November 19, the EC had summoned Nepali officials to explain what measures Nepal had adopted to ensure safety amid frequent air crashes. Nepal’s aviation safety record has taken a blow with seven crashes in the last three years, most of them involving European-made Dornier aircraft.

A 10-member Nepali delegation led by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) Director General Ratish Chandra Lal Suman and consisting of representatives from Nepal Airlines Corporation and private airlines had participated in the meeting.

“We had asked the EC for a six-month time to improve Nepal’s aviation safety during the meeting with the Aviation Safety Committee in Brussels, Belgium, on Nov 19,” said Suman.

“Obviously, it’s a big setback. But we are committed to bring down Nepal’s non-compliance rate with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) below the global average.”

Nepal’s non-compliance rate with the ICAO standards declined by 12 percentage points to 45 percent in 2013. In 2009, Nepal’s rate of non-compliance with the eight areas audited by ICAO was 57 percent compared to the world average of 41 percent. The global figure dropped to 39 percent in 2013.

Aviation analyst Hemant Arjyal said the ban is not only a setback to Nepal’s tourism, but to the country as a whole. “Restriction of flights in the EU will not impact Nepal, but the travel alert on European travellers not to use Nepali carriers is a big setback to Nepal’s tourism,” he said.

Likewise, insurance premium of travellers and the aircraft will also rise, which are already at an unaffordable level to Nepali aviation players, he said, adding the EU will also refuse to sell aircraft to Nepal until it is on its blacklist.

In his op-ed article published recently in The Kathmandu Post, Arjyal has said the ICAO audit (2009) found Nepal deficient not only in complying with a majority of all aviation safety areas, but also criticised the CAAN for “not being capable” of ensuring effective implementation of improvement measures.

“The reported comments were bad enough, but the post-audit period turned out to be even worse with 95 lives lost in nine accidents,” he said.

“There has been no progress on the aviation safety front so far.” European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas added: “I have already asked the European Aviation Safety Agency to prepare an aviation safety assistance project for Nepal. Number of countries where safety is gradually improving, remain for the moment on the list, but I am

confident that positive decisions are in the pipeline if things keep moving in the right direction.”

The updated EU air safety list includes all airlines certified in 21 states, including Nepal, for a total of 295 airlines fully banned from the EU skies.

‘MA60 jet deal fallout’

Experts and aviation officials have said ‘the rush decision’ of the European Commission to ban all Nepal-based airlines from flying in the European Union might be related to Nepal’s move to permit Chinese-made MA60 aircraft in the Nepali skies.

Nepali officials were questioned by Aviation Safety Committee of the EC on issuing type certificate to the 58-seater MA60 on November 19 in Brussels.

According to a participant of the meeting, the committee had asked them why the certificate had been issued when the aircraft did not meet the obligations of the European Aviation Safety Agency and the US Federal Aviation Administration.

Earlier in July, the EC had issued a notice, saying that it would wait for the results of an audit carried out by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) before completing its blacklisting assessment of Nepali airlines .

“Although the ICAO had sent a draft report to the CAAN for its necessary comments, the full report is yet to come,” said a CAAN official on condition of anonymity. (PR)

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