December 8: The European Union (EU) has applauded the Government of Nepal for its firm commitment to improve aviation safety mechanisms although the EU is yet to remove Nepal from aviation safety blacklist.

In a statement issued on the International Civil Aviation Day on December 7, the EU noted that the European Commission is aware of the efforts that have been undertaken by Nepal, notably in regard to the new aviation legislation currently proposed to the Parliament.

“It would be key for this legislation to be adopted by the Parliament and subsequently implemented. This would allow the Commission to advance with the process of eventually removing Nepal from the EU Air Safety List,” said the statement.

According to the EU, the standard process for removal from the list specifically includes organising a technical meeting (in Brussels) with CAAN to review the progress made, organising a subsequent on-site visit to Nepal by DG MOVE, EASA, and air safety experts from member states, which is needed in order to make a determination about the effective implementation of the safety enhancements, and ienacting the eventual removal from the EU Air Safety List by way of a Commission proposal to be endorsed by the EU Air Safety Committee.

The EU had banned Nepal from flying to its member states in December 2013 and is yet the remove the country from the blacklist. The EU kept Nepal in the list due to increasing incidents of plane crashes in the country. Nepali airliners have not been able to conduct flights to European countries ever since the ban was imposed.

A considerable number of people from European countries had lost their lives in five air crashes in Nepal between 2010 to 2012, after which the EU imposed the ban.

Altogether 18 airline companies of Nepal, including helicopter operators, have been blacklisted by EU.

Analysts believe that EU has shown interest to lift the ban on Nepal for its efforts made to airlift people stranded by coronavirus and also because the country has grounded Chinese aircraft. Although EU has not mentioned anything public regarding Nepal using Chinese aircraft, experts say it is one of the reasons for the delay in removing the country from the black list.

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai expressed his belief that Nepal will soon be removed from the blacklist of EU as the country has made tremendous reforms to meet the air safety standards of EU.

He said that the government has presented a draft bill to the House of Representatives and all concerns raised by the EU will be addressed once the bill is endorsed by parliament.

Meanwhile, the statement added that the European Commission with the assistance of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), will deliver concrete and demand driven technical assistance to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal in order to support Nepal’s efforts to enhance the aviation safety oversight in Nepal.