Nepali officials held discussions to this effect with officials of the two countries on the sidelines of 8th ICAO Air Services Negotiation Event (ICAN2015) held in Antalya, Turkey from October 19 to 23. Preparation is underway to sign ASA with Cambodia by the end of this year and Afghanistan within six months.Nepal signed ASAs with Vietnam and the New Zealand on the sidelines of ICAN2015. With this, the number of countries Nepal that has signed ASA with Nepal has reached 38.
Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, secretary of Ministry Culture Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA), told Republica that the new agreements were signed to let the world know that Nepal is ready to provide safe and reliable air services to newer destinations. "This will help to bring more tourists, increase our capacity and enhance healthy competition, and help in meeting our objective of bringing two million tourists by 2020," said Thapaliya.
The agreement is expected to facilitate the movement of pilgrims from Vietnam, a Buddhist country, to Lumbini - the birthplace of Buddha.
Nepal has signed ASA with Vietnam to operate 14 flights a week to any points of Nepal by any type of aircraft, according to Pramod Nepal, under secretary at MoCTCA.
According to officials, Vietnam is ready to operate flights to Nepal via Bangkok by signing code sharing agreement with Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC).
Talking to Republica, NAC officials said they cannot make any comment regarding code sharing agreement without studying the proposal. "Once we receive the proposal from Vietnam, we will assess it and take appropriate decision accordingly," Ram Hari Sharma, spokesperson of NAC, said.
As per the ASA with Vietnam, Vietnamese airlines can. "This agreement can help to bring more Buddhist tourists to Nepal and increase flow of passengers to Lumbini, Bhairahawa and Pokhara," added Nepal.
The ASA with New Zealand also allows airlines of both countries to operate 14 flights a week via multiple designations. Similarly, it allows airlines of both the countries to use third country code share and also there is no restriction in cargo service
Though tour operators of New Zealand say code share agreement with Silk Air would be beneficial for them to connect to Nepal, the New Zealand government has yet to explore the Nepali market, according to Nepal.
Nepal also revised ASA with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and UAE. "Flight frequency with Saudi Arabia has been increased from two to 28 per week. Any airline from both the country can now fly to any city," Nepal said. Earlier, only the flight on Kathmandu-Riyadh sector was possible.
Similarly, the revised ASA with UAE allows UAE-based carriers to make additional 70 flights each to Pokhara and Bhairahawa. Officials say the provision will put pressure on the government to complete construction of both the airports in time. "The revised agreements will also ease the problem of migrant workers and help bring more remittances into the country," Tourism Secretary Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said.
Likewise, the revised ASA with Pakistan allows Pakistani carriers to operate 28 flights per week to Nepal from four cities -- Karachi, Islamabad, Faisalabad and Sialkot. Earlier, Pakistani carriers were allowed to make four flights a week to Kathmandu from Karachi only.
According to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the 8th ICAN2015 wound up on a record note in Antalya, Turkey last Friday, with 800 participants representing 95 states and territories and seven international organizations taking full advantage of the event's unique and cost-effective multi-negotiation facility to expand air transport liberalization and market access. A total of 588 negotiation sessions were conducted, leading to the signing and initialing of more than 450 ASAs and other related arrangements during the five-day event, a press release posted on ICAO's website states.
"The significant level of participation at this year's ICAN clearly demonstrates the appreciation of ICAO member states for the obvious value which these events have delivered to air services negotiators since 2008. It also confirms the collective and ongoing resolve of governments and industry to continue to work together towards the sustainable economic development of air transport," ICAO Council President Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu said in the release.
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