CAAN loses over Rs 16 billion in revenue following spread of COVID-19

KATHMANDU, August 30: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN)has lost more than Rs 16 billion due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Civil aviation service providers and regulatory authorities, which have been the most affected by the epidemic, have lost billions of rupees in revenue. The effect of COVID-19 which spread from January 2020 affected aviation operations for three years along with the country’s economy which is still lingering.

The global tourism and aviation sectors were hit the hardest due to COVID-19. During the pandemic, countries even halted flights from other countries. Because of this, the movement of tourists was around zero due to the standstill. As a result, the aviation authority has faced losses of up to Rs 16.49 billion in revenue over the past three years.

In the fiscal year 2019/20, the CAAN earned Rs 6.25 billion, down by 35.44 percent of the targeted Rs 9.69 billion. The following fiscal, the authority managed to collect Rs 7.73 billion out of the targeted Rs 10.66 billion. In the fiscal year 2021/22, the authority managed to collect Rs 7.66 billion out of the targeted Rs 11.73 billion. In the last financial year, the authority has collected Rs 13.39 billion in revenue out of the targeted Rs 14.32 billion.

According to the CAAN, due to the decrease in the Authority's income, some development works have been stopped and new works have also been affected.