Raj Kumar Chhetry, spokesperson Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), has said that it had completed all preparations to resume commercial aviation service from August 17 with limited flights in both domestic and international sectors reports The Rising Nepal Daily.

Yograj Kanel, spokesperson of Airlines Operators Association Nepal (AOAN), said that 15 to 30 domestic flights serving maximum 350 passengers from TIA would be conducted in the first week after the resumption of domestic flights.

All airlines operators have approved their Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) from the CAAN as a preparation to operate their service from August 17 reports the daily.

The government had recently announced to resume the domestic and international aviation services from August 17.

Chhetry said that both domestic and international flights would be resumed for limited numbers for the implementation of health protocol in the time of pandemic. He, however, said that the number of flights to conduct in a day is yet to be finalised.

Airports and concerned airlines companies have prepared the standard operating procedures (SOP) as per the guidelines issued by the CAAN to maintain health protocols to combat the spread of COVID-19, he said.

Although the number of flights per day is yet to be finalised from the CAAN and the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, it will be appropriate to operate 10 to 15 international flights per day on the basis of available space and to implement the SOP.

A meeting of the airlines operators and CAAN has decided to operate domestic airlines from 6 AM to 6 PM and handle maximum 300 passengers per hour for the first week after the resumption of aviation service.