KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 24

Shattering the dreams of Nepali airline operators hoping to take to the European skies in the near future, the domestic air carriers have not been removed from the European Commission (EC)'s updated EU Air Safety List (ASL) that was unveiled today.

The updated air safety list has mentioned 91 air carriers, including 20 Nepali airlines, 'due to a lack of safety oversight by the aviation authorities in these states'.

Meanwhile, 22 airlines certified in Russia and five individual airlines based in Venezuela, Suriname, Iran, Iraq, and Zimbabwe respectively have also been added to the list, taking the total number of carriers banned from the European skies to 118. The ASL is a list of air carriers, which do not fulfil international safety standards or as per the EU.

The EU has kept Nepal on its air safety list since 2013 due to which the airline companies registered in the country are not allowed to offer direct air connectivity services in the EU member states. However, the listing of Nepali airlines in the updated safety air list by the EU is not the assessment result of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)'s latest observation on Nepal's aviation safety, according to CAAN officials.

Gyanendra Bhul, information officer at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), said that the latest ICAO mission to Nepal has no relation to the updated list.

'The ICAO had also listed Nepal in the safety list previously due to some concerns regarding safety on December 25, 2013. In the subsequent safety audit conducted by ICAO in 2017, Nepal had scored over 66 per cent, which was above the average global safety requirement, and removed us from the significant safety concern list. Although ICAO removed Nepali airlines from the safety list, the same wasn't followed by the EU due to other concerns. In between April 13 and 22, ICAO had conducted another audit, in which Nepal scored 70.25 points, indicating the country's rapid development in aviation,' he explained.

'EU , being a regional organisation, has its concerns regarding the safety of their citizens while travelling through specific airlines and has been conducting safety observations and audits from time to time in Nepal. A team from the EU conducted an assistance mission on airlines conducting rural flights, including Tara Air and Summit Air, from October 6 to 8. The team had assured an assessment study would be conducted on the country's aviation sector but no formal notice has been received yet,' Bhul told The Himalayan Times.

He explained that the EU safety list is reviewed annually by the Union.

'The latest study was just a preliminary mission as part of the Union's practice and a designated team is yet to come to Nepal for a full audit. As the audit report has not been updated yet, the ASL was updated as per the remarks received during the previous audit report conducted by the EU,' Bhul said.

A version of this article appears in the print on November 25, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.