KATHMANDU, August 30: The revenue of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has dropped significantly in the past two years due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), the country’s sole international airport, recorded a significant fall in the number of air passengers since the outbreak of the COVID-19.
Tourism and civil aviation are among the major sectors that were hit hard by the pandemic. CAAN, the regulatory body of the aviation sector, said it recorded a major fall in its income in the past two consecutive years. Its income went down by 43 percent in the first year of COVID-19 outbreak and the figure rose to 72 percent in the following year.
Diversifying Government Revenue
According to CAAN’s annual progress report for the fiscal year 2020-21, its income decreased by 43 percent as compared to the projected income of Rs 10.544 billion of the previous year. The revenue further decreased to 72 percent in the following year.
The COVID-19 outbreak since the beginning of 2020 had adversely affected projects and programmes funded by the CAAN last fiscal year.
Construction of many airport infrastructure development projects with investments of the Government of Nepal and donor agencies have been affected due to ongoing COVID-19 and prohibition orders, according to the report.
The infection has taken its toll the most on air transport. The year 2020 witnessed a 73.27 percent fall in air passengers in international flights as compared to 2019. In 2019, over 4.1 million passengers took international flights as opposed to over 1.1 million in 2020.
Likewise, more than 1.2 million passengers took domestic flights in 2020 as compared to over 3.1 million in 2019. The figure in 2020 is a 59.46 percent less than in 2019.
