KATHMANDU: The European Commission has once again expressed dissatisfaction over measures adopted by the country to improve air safety, indicating it will not lift the ban put on Nepal’s aviation sector anytime soon.
The latest EC report on Nepal’s aviation sector has put almost entire blame on the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal for failing to make Nepal’s skies safe and has expressed disappointment over its inability to frame procedures on certification and licensing in line with provisions of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The report prepared by a six-member EC team that conducted on-site inspection of the CAAN and six domestic airline companies, including Nepal Airlines Company, Buddha Air, Tara Air, Yeti Air, Shree Air and Sita Air, earlier this month states that CAAN could not assure EC that its certification and licensing procedures complied with relevant ICAO safety annexes.
The ICAO — a UN body that sets international aviation standards — and the EC have long raised concerns about CAAN’s haphazard practice of renewing Air Operator Certificates — operating licenses extended to airline companies. Because of this ICAO had even issued ‘significant safety concern’ about air travel in Nepal and had called it one of the major reasons for rising number of air accidents here.
This weakness seen in the domestic aviation sector is said to have played a key role in propelling the EC to place a ban on Nepal-based airline companies from flying into or within EU in December.
“Since then we have started revalidating operating licenses of airline companies and this process is going on at the moment,” a high-ranking CAAN official said on condition of anonymity. If these companies are found violating AOC guideline, they will be shut down, the CAAN had stated earlier.
Another concern raised this time by the EC is about pilot licensing and training.
The EC report, seen by THT, states: “In the area of pilot licensing and training, it was established that neither the authorities nor air carriers followed the ICAO Annex 1 requirements.” This led the EC to believe that pilots here are ‘not sufficiently qualified for their duties to meet ICAO standards’.
“Since the ICAO hadn’t raised the flag in this area, we had not bothered to make changes in line with ICAO’s Annex 1,” the CAAN official said. The Annex 1 covers aspects of personnel licensing, including licensing provisions for aircraft maintenance technicians, engineers, mechanics, air traffic controllers, flight operations officers and aeronautical station operator.
“But to improve our performance in this regard, we have invited an ICAO team in May or June,” the official said, adding, “These dissatisfactions expressed by the EC and recent air accident have made it almost impossible to lift our aviation sector out of the EC’s blacklist in the near future.”
Still on EC’s blacklist
• CAAN could not assure EC that its certification and licensing procedures complied with relevant ICAO safety annexes
• EC report states that neither the authorities nor air carriers followed the ICAO requirements in the area of pilot licensing and training
• EC wants CAAN to improve licensing provisions for aircraft maintenance technicians, engineers, mechanics, air traffic controllers, flight operations officers and aeronautical station operator
Source: http://www.thehimalayantimes.com
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