KATHMANDU, NOV 08 - The government’s plan to review cross-border air routes with India has been postponed until the first week of December. Officials at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation said that Nepal had twice proposed the date for a meeting but India had not responded.

The airspace agenda, which has been gathering dust for a long time, was endorsed during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nepal in August. The prime ministers of the two countries have directed the concerned authorities to meet within six months to resolve the issue.

“We have proposed the meeting date twice, but there has been no acknowledgement from the Indian side,” said Pramod Nepal, under-secretary at the ministry.

“As there is no time to hold the meeting after the first week of November due to the preparations for the Saarc Summit, the planned meeting has been postponed until December.” The ministry had suggested holding the talks from November 3-4. Nepal has proposed reviewing the airspace agreement to provide more cross-border entry and exit points for airlines that will be serving the proposed Second International Airport (SIA) in Bara, Nijgadh and the regional international airports in Bhairahawa and Pokhara.

The government has requested India to allow three more air entry points at Janakpur, Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj. A joint communiqué issued by the two sides at the end of the visit said, “The cross-border direct routes will facilitate flights between regional airports in Pokhara and Bhairahawa, and this will save time and money for air travellers and also improve air connectivity between India and Nepal.

” Presently, the Simara route is the only route for aircraft flying into Nepal. It is used by almost all the airlines and has been suffering from air traffic congestion. Two other entry points, Kakkarbhitta and Nonim, have been specially designated for planes coming from Bhutan and China respectively. Nepal offers more than six exit points for aircraft.

They are Bhairahawa, Biratnagar, Kakkarbhitta, Nepalgunj, Janakpur and Dhangadhi. As international airlines connecting Kathmandu use the Simara route which is the shortest, aircraft have to make their descent and ascent in Indian airspace during arrival and departure respectively.

As per the bilateral air service agreement between Nepal and India, aircraft entering Nepal are allowed to maintain an elevation of 21,000 ft. The provision is practical for making a descent to Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport, but aircraft serving SIA will have to make a spiral descent, or circle the sky, to land at the airport from the given elevation.

On September 10, 2009, Nepali and Indian aviation authorities revised the air service agreement and signed a technical accord permitting Indian carriers to increase their weekly seat capacity to 30,000 from 6,000 over the two countries’ airspace.

The importance of air routes was realized when the plans of Nepali carriers to expand cross-border flights were thwarted by the absence of adequate entry points.

Nepali carrier Buddha Air had to abandon its plan to operate Pokhara-Bhairahawa-Lucknow flights due to the air route problem. It had been allowed to fly from Pokhara to Lucknow; but on the return flight, it had to enter Nepal through the Simara point which made the service economically unviable.

The last time Nepal opened additional air routes was on November 19, 2009 when the L626 passing over Dhangadhi was launched. The Indian government approved the L626 route as per the air service agreement signed between the two countries in September the same year.