Government extends long-haul transportation, flights operation schedule

 The government has continued the suspension of the operation of long-distance vehicles and domestic flights till September 16.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers held today decided to extend the suspension from earlier deadline of August 17. Earlier, the government has vowed to resume long-route transportation and domestic flight services from August 17 due to a sharp increase in coronavirus infections. 

Likewise, the cabinet has also decided to continue closure of schools and all other educational institutions across the country until further notice. “But the operation of international flights is resuming tomorrow, a schedule has also been released,” according to a cabinet minister. 

In the meeting, some ministers recommended to increase the number of Nepalis to from current 500 Nepalis per day. “The number has to be increased in case a particular company takes responsibility of sending Nepalis back home bearing all their costs of taking PCR tests, hotel quarantine facility among others,” they recommended.

The cabinet has also decided to grant labour permission to those seeking to go to overseas in foreign employment.

Ease restrictions on domestic flights: Airliners

Airline Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN) has today requested the government to lift restrictions on domestic flights immediately to help rescue flood and landslide victims.
The government has – last week – announced to resume both domestic and international flights from August 17, but the association has issuing a press note – in the wake of recent floods and landslides – requested the government to resume domestic flights immediately. “Floods and landslides have damaged highways across the country making it hard for people to travel,” the press note reads, adding that the rescue and relief cargo flights need to operate. “Thus, the association requests the government to allow airline operators to operate non-scheduled regular flights for the convenience of people.”
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), in coordination with the association, has prepared Covid-19 prevention guideline to resume flights. Thus, the association claimed that there wouldn’t be any problem resuming flights immediately.
The rescue and relief flights have been affected due to flight restrictions, the press note reads, asking the the government to allow airlines to operate flights. “The emergency flight operations will also help airliners prepare for the resumption of regular commercial flights.”
The airliners have also pledged to provide flight services as per the airfare set by the government.
Currently, few airlines are operating repatriation, rescue and cargo flights with special permission from the Foreign Ministry and CAAN..

Nepal lifts coronavirus lockdown from tonight

After 120 days, the government has lifted the lockdown – which was imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19 (coronavirus) – from Tuesday midnight.
The government had imposed lockdown from March 24 and revised in various stages, which has led to an almost complete halt in economic and social activities bleeding the economy red.
Spokesperson of the government, minister for Communication and Information Technology Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada confirmed that the government has decided to lift the lockdown with some sectors still under restrictions. “The educational institutions will remain closed until further decision, though admissions for new sessions will start from August 17.”
Likewise, the government has also decided to allow the hotels and restaurants to resume their businesses and services. “They can open from July 30,” he said, adding that holding feasts with large crowds, however, will not be allowed. “Businesses related to travel, tourism, trekking and mountaineering will, however, resume services from July 30.”
“A meeting of the Council of Ministers yesterday had decided to lift temporary ban on all international and domestic flights in the country,” he said, adding that the cabinet has also lifted ban on long-haul transport services, which will also resume from August 17. The short-distance transportation and movement of private vehicles – with odd and even number – has already resumed after the last revision.
With the resumption of both domestic and international flights starting from August 17, the government has also directed the Ministry of Culture Tourism and Civil Aviation to prepare safety protocol.
According to the ministry, the tourism industry that incurred a loss of over Rs 10 billion a month during the Covid-19-induced nationwide lockdown. “The ministry will first finalise safety protocols by holding consultations with stakeholders concerned,” according to tourism secretary Kedar Bahadur Adhikari.
“The flights will be resumed in three phases,” he said, adding, “In the first phase, flights will be operated to the destinations that are less affected by Covid-19.” After that, flights will be operated to other destinations in the second and third phases. During the first phase of flight resumption, the airline companies will not be allowed to operate all their aircraft at once. “Permission to operate aircraft will be given based on the destination and the number of passengers,” he said, adding that the ministry will coordinate with the Ministry of Health and Population for safety of the passengers travelling through commercial flights, if any health issue arises.
The Ministry of Health and Population is also going to prepare a new guidelines on handling of the arriving air passengers after August 17. “All passengers, who plan to arrive Nepal on charter or repatriation flights until August 16 should go to quarantine centres,” Adhikari said, adding that passengers of the scheduled commercial flights must also show their PCR report to enter Nepal thereafter. “The passengers of the scheduled international flights might also be ordered to go for self-quarantine even after producing the PCR test report.”
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and the airlines companies are also preparing standard operating procedures to resume domestic and international flights.
Once the commercial flights start operating, the Department of Tourism is also planning to issue climbing permits for the autumn season. The department has already started preparing necessary guidelines – with Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) for agencies – for climbers and trekkers, who plan to visit Nepal after August 17.

Tourism entrepreneurs demand resumption of flights

Tourism entrepreneurs demanded resumption of domestic and international flights from next week.
Oranising a press meet today they asked the government to allow the resumption of domestic flights from August 1 and international flights from August 15. They also asked the government to open the border points from mid-August.
A number of alliances of tourism entrepreneurs – during a joint press meet – sought the government permission to resume the aviation business, which is considered the pivot of the tourism industry.
Tourism industry is one of the hardest-hit sectors as the government imposed lockdown – closing international and domestic flights and border points – on March 24.
The government has eased the lockdown from June 10 but with restricted movements inside the country and closed international boarder including flights, which has forced the hotels, resorts, home stays to completely shut down. With the closure of tourism industry, employment of millions of people and investment of billions has been under threat, the press note issued by the entrepreneurs read, adding that the tourism industry should come to movement with enough health and safety measures. “Otherwise, the tourism entrepreneurs will be forced to come to the street,” they warned.

Nepal Airlines postpones flight service to Osaka

Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has postponed its flight to Japan due to shortage of passengers till August. With the postponement of the flight, the restart of Nepal-Japan direct flight – after almost a decade – has been delayed for one more month.
Joint spokesperson for NAC Navaraj Koirala confirmed the postponement of the Kathmandu-Osaka flight for a month due to a lukewarm response to pre-booking. “Some of the passengers, who have bought the NAC ticket, will be referred to another airline,” he said, adding that the schedule of the Kathmandu-Osaka flight will remain unchanged. “NAC will operate Osaka flights three days a week, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.”
The financially bankrupt NAC has fixed Rs 45,000 for one-way and Rs 77,000 for a round trip to Osaka. It takes around six-and-a-half hours to reach Osaka from Kathmandu. Operation of commercial flights to Osaka is expected to help NAC overcome its financial woes as it is expected to help generate revenue for NAC and contribute to the growth of Japanese tourists visiting Nepal.
The national flag carrier had opened ticket booking on the Kathmandu-Osaka route after receiving permission from Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) to operate flights from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) to Osaka International Airport. The national flag carrier that used to fly twice a week on Kathmandu-Osaka route in between 1994 and 2007 had halted service due to lack of aircraft and human resources.