Kathmandu, Feb 3 (IANS) A high level team of experts from the European Commission (EC) that arrived in Kathmandu Saturday is all set to carry out a six-day study of the air safety situation in Nepal for a week, officials said.
The EC experts who were busy meeting government and private sector aviation stakeholders Sunday will initiate their safety assessment study of Nepal’s domestic air carriers, Xinhua reported.
The EC announced in December to ban Nepali aircraft to fly “into or within” the European Union due to the safety situation in Nepal. However, the EC said positive decisions “are in the pipeline” if aviation safety of the country is improved.
“The team will try to get first hand information on the initiatives we have been making to enhance Nepal’s air safety situation,” said Director General Ratish Chandra Lal Suman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.
“This could be a great opportunity for us to be removed from the EC’s ban,” he added.
The team will submit its final report of the study to the EC headquarters Feb 14 which will then be forwarded to the meeting of the EC’s Aviation Security Committee due to be held on March 2628 in Brussels.