Govt committed to expansion of air service

KATHMANDU, Dec. 31: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Post Bahadur Bogati has said the government was committed to expansion of air service and has therefore brought long-term development plans in this sector.



Addressing the fourth anniversary of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) in the capital on Monday, Minister Bogati said aviation service in Nepal was in need of expansion for the development of tourism.[break]



"Diversification of air service was essential also because the many distant regions were not linked even with transportation by land," he said.



Officiating Secretary at the Ministry Ranjan Krishna Aryal said new plan on air service should focus on people and entrepreneurs.



CAAN Director General Triratna Manandhar said the customers of air service in Nepal grew by 7.59 percent in the ten months of 2012.



In the ten months of this year, there were some 2.3 million foreign passengers while the number of domestic passengers stood at Rs 1.3 million.



The number of the countries Nepal established bilateral air service agreement has reached 36. With this, 5.7 million seats have been achieved at the bilateral level.



There are three domestic and 26 foreign air services companies providing air service in Nepal.



According to Director General Manandhar, the companies are providing air services in different 24 places of 19 countries.



The Authority has enforced the new air sports regulation effective Monday.

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