Govt Announced the Resumption of International Flight Operations from September 1:
The government has decided to operate regular international flights with definite conditions from September 1, five months after the lockdown. In order to survive the Covid-19 epidemic and fly safely, the government has decided to operate regular conditional flights from countries where PCR testing is easy. A meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Thursday decided to start regular flights under certain conditions from September 1, said Dr. Yubaraj Khatiwada, spokesperson of the government and Minister for Communications and Information Technology.
Speaking at a press conference held at the Ministry to make the decision of the Council of Minister's public, Minister Dr. Khatiwada said that the decision was taken to allow the flight to operate without affecting 500 passengers daily. For that purpose, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has been given the responsibility to prepare flight schedules. The Ministry will prepare a flight schedule on certain conditions.
According to the spokesperson Dr. Khatiwada, the countries that have facilitated PCR testing are Malaysia, UAE, South Korea, Thailand, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Australia, USA, Canada and European countries as per the decision of the Government of Nepal to allow Nepalese citizens and diplomats, staff, joint Regular flights will be operated to bring only UN staff members to Nepal.
The meeting has decided not to bring passengers from other countries including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on regular flights. The Council of Ministers has decided that the passengers who do not have permission to fly for regular flights can be brought by chartered flight as per the list recommended by the concerned Nepali diplomatic mission.
It is said that the report should have been negative while testing the PCR of the passenger within 72 hours. Passengers coming from abroad will have to stay in Hotel Quarantine at their own expense for 7 days after arriving in Kathmandu. Passengers who have tested PCR and those who have not will be put on quarantine and all expenses will be borne by the airlines.
Similarly, only charter flights will be operated in countries where PCR test is not easy. Stating that there is a risk of spreading the infection by bringing those who have PCR test and those who are not on the same flight, he said that chartered flight can be done on the recommendation of the concerned Nepali diplomatic mission for the passengers who want to return home from such countries.
The government had imposed a nationwide curfew from March 24 to July 21 to control the global Kovid-19 epidemic. Assessing that the transition rate was low in the then situation, the government had announced to start domestic and international commercial flights from August 20 on the suggestion of experts. However, the government had decided not to resume commercial flights till August 31 after the spread of COVID-19 spread across the country, including the capital Kathmandu.
According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health and Population, the number of people infected with COVID-19 has reached 30,483. In the last 24 hours, 838 people have been found infected. The airline has been badly affected by the halt in commercial flights. This has overwhelmed the entire airspace of the country. Thirty airlines, including three Nepalis, have been flying internationally at Tribhuvan International Airport.
(Image Credit: Siraj Ahmad)
