CAAN cancles self-ground handling service of Thai Airways

KATHMANDU, Feb 21: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN)has canceled the self-ground handling being done by Thai Airways.

Jagannath Niraula, Deputy Director General and Spokesperson of the CAAN, said that on Monday, Thai Airways canceled self-ground handling for a long time.

He said that the self-ground handling work being done by Thai Airways at Tribhuvan International Airport has been stopped from Monday. He said that it was also decided to stop plane maintenance, repair and overhaul service which was being done through the engineer of Thai Airways. He said that the entire self-ground handling work will be done by Nepal Airlines Corporation, so the service will not be stopped.

Niraula said that the aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services which are being done through the engineer of Thai Airways will be done by the maintenance organization of the airport. General Manager of Tribhuvan International Airport, Premnath Thakur, said that the decision of the authority will not make any difference as the bribery case is being investigated.

Thai Smile is a subsidiary company of Thai Airways, which was involved in the bribery case against Thakur, the general manager of the airport. Although Thai Smile provides flight handling services, the authority has said that the self-ground handling service has been canceled for the time being due to the lack of official license from the regulatory body of Thailand.

There is a provision of self-ground handling only for companies that operate 35 flights a week. In the past, the director general of the authority, Thai Airways, has been providing maintenance services to various airlines including Korean, Thai Smile, Cathay Pacific, Singapore. 

According to the CAAN, the arrears owed by Thai Airways to the airport is more than one crore rupees.The country was losing three billion rupees annually by providing self-ground handling and plane maintenance, repair and overhaul services to the closed Thai Airways. However, the CAAN's decision on Monday has prevented the annual outflow of three billion rupees.