KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 17

The recently enforced directive by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal halting all paragliding activities in the country is already taking its toll on the sector.

The number of daily paragliding flights has dropped from over 350 about a week ago to nil, affecting the airsport industry, insiders say.

CAAN has said the suspension will be enforced for a couple of days until a decision is finalised regarding the sport's operations and flight safety.

Yesterday, a Tribhuvan Army Club glider succumbed to injuries after falling from over 100 metres while taking part in the Cross Country event from Sarangkot during the ongoing Ninth National Games being held in Pokhara. Following the incident, CAAN suspended all paragliding flights across the country until further notice.

According to Gyanendra Bhul, information officer for CAAN, the flight safety department and regulatory department are working to make the paragliding sector systematic and safe in terms of operations and technicality.

'An investigation team was deployed yesterday to prepare a report. There is talk of a committee being formed to make decisions and bring changes in the sector after the report is submitted. Although discussions are under way to regulate paragliding, no decision has been finalised,' Bhul told The Himalayan Times.

However, stakeholders have termed CAAN's decision to suspend paragliding until further notice 'immature'.

Sunil Bahadur Bhattarai, president of Nepal Airsports Association, said the decision to completely suspend paragliding flights across the country had affected and given a negative message to the paragliding and tourism industry, which was shut down completely during the COV- ID-19 pandemic and was just starting to witness some signs of recovery.

'Around 360 paragliding flights were conducted in a single day a week ago, generating about Rs 2.5 million to three million rupees revenue per day. The suspension has affected our revenue generation and is leading businesses to face a loss of Rs 400,000 to Rs 500,000 per day,' he said.

'Nothing is more disheartening than knowing that a life was lost during a flight. However, instead of looking for shortcomings in terms of safety and operation measures and identifying ways to avoid such incidents in the future, I don't think the suspension or closure of flights will fix any problem,' he opined.

Similarly, Bal Krishna Basel, owner of Team 5 Nepal Paragliding, said the suspension had deeply affected his business. 'We have no choice but to cancel flights till further notice. Over a dozen clients contact us each day, but all flights have been suspended for now. Although we had hoped for a good season this October and in the coming months, we have no choice but to wait for CAAN's decision,' he said.

'During the peak season, around 1,000 paragliding flights were conducted per day in Pokhara prior to the COV- ID-19 pandemic. Likewise, 500 to 600 flights used to take place during normal days. Recently, we witnessed over 300 flights per day - a positive sign of recovery for the paragliding sector. However, the suspension will not only affect the paragliding industry, but adversely affect the country's adventure tourism sector as well. It is understandable that CAAN makes some changes to address the safety and operation issues, but the decision to suspend all flights is not right,' Basel added.

According to Bhul, CAAN is not set on suspending paragliding flights for a long period of time but just for a few days until some decisions are finalised.

'We do not want to restrict paragliding for a long time. Due to our concerns regarding unhealthy competition in the sector, we want people to reflect on the incident and the shortcomings of the concerned bodies and come to a decision to avoid such tragedy in the future,' he said.

A version of this article appears in the print on October 18, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.