Kathmandu, December 25

Authorised Workers Trade Union of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has threatened to halt services at all airports across the country ahead of the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign.

While the government is busy with preparations for the campaign, CAAN staffers have threatened to stop working if the government does not withdraw its decision of splitting the authority into two separate organisations.

Organising a press meet here today, Sravan Kumar Yadav, president of the union, informed that they had urged the concerned authorities not to divide CAAN. However, their request has remained unheard, he added.

“The then aviation department was turned into CAAN on December 31, 1998. Since then, CAAN has been fulfilling its responsibilities as an operator and regulator of the country’s aviation sector,” he said.

“And in the coming days as well CAAN can carry out its responsibilities with accountability and transparency.”

He further claimed that the CAAN has now also become financially stable and is progressing in other sectors as well.

“In such a situation, there is no need of dividing CAAN into two separate organisations,” he added.

The union has also claimed that efforts are being made against the progress of CAAN. “As the Gautam Buddha International Airport and Pokhara Regional International Airport are all set to begin operation of international flights, some groups want to privatise these projects while CAAN has been fulfilling its duties diligently.”

The union has also accused European Union of trying to rule Nepali’s aviation sector, ‘which is why it has put Nepal in its air safety list citing the role of CAAN’.

The union has announced that it is boycotting CAAN’s anniversary event on December 31. The union has also threatened pen down strike and that the workers will wear black armbands while on duty as a sign of protest.