KATHMANDU, May 18 (Xinhua) -- The government of Nepal and Bhutan on Saturday revised the existing air service agreement (ASA) to enable the two countries to operate 21 flights a week at maximum in a reciprocal basis, a press release issued by Nepal's Aviation Ministry said Sunday.
Nepal and Bhutan had signed the ASA in February 2004 allowing seven flights on weekly basis.
Nepal's Aviation Secretary Sushil Ghimire and Bhutan's Information and Communication Secretary Kinley Dorji had signed the revised agreement amidst a function in Thimpu. "Any airlines (private or public and of whatever size and capacity) from both of the countries can operate 21 air flights at most per week,"said the press release.
Even though the 2004 ASA had allowed the two counties to use 1, 400 seats one-way per week, the seat number has not been fixed during Saturday's revision.
Bhutan's national flag carrier, Druk Air, has been operating flights to Kathmandu while Nepal's private airline, Buddha Air, has been serving chartered flights to Paro of Bhutan.
Earlier in March this year, the Bhutanese government had sent a request to the Nepali government seeking for the ASA revision after Bhutan's first private airline Tashi Air had announced interest to connect to Nepal. "The revised ASA has accepted the multiple designation system, under which there won't be any restriction on any carrier of the two countries to fly to each other's destinations,"said the press release.
Earlier, the single designation system had permitted only Bhutan's national flag carrier to operate flights to Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and Nepal's Buddha Air to connect to Paro.
Nepal's Aviation Ministry officials told Xinhua that during the meeting, Bhutani authorities asked the Nepali officials to include them in several trainings pertaining to aviation sector. Similarly, both of the countries have also agreed to exchange expertise, make technical collaborations and help each other in tourism promotion, among others.
On Feb. 25 this year, Nepal and China had revised ASA allowing a total of 56 direct flights to each others' land a week. Nepal so far has signed ASA with 36 countries.
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