Kathmandu, April 22

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) is preparing a new guideline to operate domestic flights after the lockdown is eased.

Along with the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Department of Health Services, the CAAN is preparing new standards for the country’s aviation sector aiming to reduce the risk of coronavirus infection.

The government has suspended domestic flights till April 30 and the date to resume domestic flights has not been finalised yet. However, along with the reopening of domestic flights, they will be operated with new rules and regulations.

“New standards of aviation safety has become necessary in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. So, once the corona infection is brought under control, new standards may be implemented for domestic flights,” said Raj Kumar Chhetri, spokesperson for CAAN.

He, however, said that a formal decision regarding the new guideline is yet to be taken by the CAAN management.

Likewise, the civil aviation ministry also needs to give its go-ahead before the new criteria can be implemented.

As per plan, health safety measures will be implemented for all activities including boarding, managing passengers and security checking processes. Along with maintaining social distancing while boarding passengers and seating them in the aircraft, many more changes will be implemented in new criteria.

As stated by CAAN, the new safety measures will ensure health safety of not only the passengers but of all the aviation workers.

As the airport is a gateway for travellers and is one of the most crowded areas with high risk of spreading infection, the stakeholders had also recommended the government earlier to practice new rules at the airports.

“Airports are the first place where we have to put safety measures in place. Hence, bringing new rules as well as maintaining distance is always a good idea at the airports to stop any kind of virus from spreading,” said Deepak Raj Joshi, former CEO of Nepal Tourism Board.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on April 23, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.