Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, May 23:

Nepal and Bangladesh have agreed to expand air services between the two countries, relaxing

the prior limitation on number of frequency and passenger seats. Following the two-day long review meeting of bilateral air services agreement (ASA), both the governments today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to renew the provisions of the existing ASA. Yagya Prasad Gautam, joint secretary at the ministry of culture, tourism and civil aviation (MoCTCA) and A K M Haroon Chowdhary, chairman of Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh signed the accord on behalf of their respective governments. As per the new agreement, both the public and private sector airlines can fly between the two countries and the number of seats has been increased to 3,500 per week. Bangladesh has also agreed to allow operations to Chittagaon airport for the Nepali airlines, whereas Nepal would allow second airport for the Bangladeshi carriers once the next international airport is built.

The new agreement has lifted limitation on number of frequency and the annual seat capacity has been now raised to 182,000 passengers. Both agreed to expand the capacity by 700 seats per week every year till 2010 to make it 7,000 seats a week. The bilateral ASA was signed in 1976 and initially aimed at promoting the national carriers of the respective countries. The ASA allowed only seven flights a week and the number of seats was limited at 40,000 per year for each side. Considering increased bilateral trade between Nepal and Bangladesh, the accord has made a provision of freighter service initially with a capacity of 250 metric tonnes per week. Now the airlines of both the countries can operate under code-sharing basis for 600 seats per week. The amended ASA that came into effect nearly after three decades is expected to open up avenues for private sector airlines to launch commercial

operations between the two countries.

“The new agreement will certainly boost bilateral trade and tourism, as lots of improvement has been made to the existing ASA,” said Chowdhary, the leader of Bangladeshi delegation.

“With an enhanced air transportation, regional tourism development is expected to move towards a new height,” he said, adding that both Bangladesh and Nepal could attract tourists to their respective countries. “The accord has been able to update numerous changes that have been observed in recent time,” said Gautam, adding that the bilateral trade and tourism will see a further boost in the yeas to come. Operation of regular freighter services will certainly help to enhance bilateral trade, while opening up Chittagaon, a very famous port city in Bangladesh, for the Nepali carriers is another significant achievement, he added. Meanwhile

talking to The Himalayan Times, Humayun Kabir, ambassador of Bangladesh to Nepal, said that the new accord would further enhance the bilateral trade. “Opening up Chittagaon for the Nepali carriers and operation of freighter service is a milestone to boost export-import trade,” he said, “Promotion of regional tourism is another important aspect that is still largely untapped.” Bangladesh has designated GMG Airlines as its next carrier to operate on Dhaka-Kathmandu-Dhaka route. GMG, Bangladesh’s sole private airline has already appointed its GSA for Nepal and is expected to launch its operation very soon.