KATHMANDU, Jan 17: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati has said that 23 remote airports of the country will be put into operation at full capacity. For this, he has announced that the number of small aircraft will be increased to half a dozen to increase the capacity of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC).

He said this at a press conference organized on Wednesday to present his one-year work overview. He stated that the NAC has already advanced the process for the purchase of three small aircraft.

The heavily indebted NAC currently does not have enough aircraft. The NAC, which is lagging behind in domestic flights, has also been pushed back in international services in recent times. But Minister Kirati did not reveal how the government will manage the budget to purchase the aircraft.

He said that out of the existing three aircraft, one of the twin otter aircraft which was grounded a decade ago is planned to be repaired and put back into operation within a month.

“We will repair and fly the grounded NAC aircraft dated from the year 2012 within a month. We will provide full service to all 23 remote destinations with the addition of half a dozen aircraft,” he said.

Similarly, he also said that the tender process for the sale of five Chinese aircraft grounded three years ago has been advanced. He said that the process of taking two narrow-body aircraft on lease and putting them into operation has been advanced with the aim of bringing in more tourists.

Similarly, he announced that the plan of making Kathmandu-Bangalore-Colombo connecting flights for Sydney flight and promotion of religious tourism through the NAC's aircraft has been initiated.

“We are reviving the NAC, which was dormant yesterday," he added.

He said that in the first three months after he took over the leadership of the Ministry, he started the Pashupatinath area sanitation along with the sanitation guidelines as part of general reforms.

He promised to implement the suggestions for NAC’s removal from the European Union's air safety blacklist.

He claimed that after assuming the responsibility, the establishment of Pashupati Hindu University, Tourism University, the process of putting Tilaurakot in Lumbini on the world heritage list, and the process of making 60 old settlements as tourist destinations were advanced.

He said that in addition to the work of the tourism decade announced by the government, preparations have been made to implement a new policy aimed at the tourism sector, including the Tourism Act and the Cultural laws.

 
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