Turkey and Nepal to Sign ASA

Turkey and Nepal are poised to sign a bilateral Air Services Agreement (ASA) according to a cabinet meeting held Wednesday.

The Turkish government made the proposal saying that air connectivity between the national airlines of Nepal and Turkey would benefit both nations. However, Nagendra Ghimire, Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation secretary, said formalizing the arrangements could take some time.

At present, Turkey’s national airline, Turkish Airlines, has routes to India, but the addition to Nepal would be a great expansion for the carrier. Currently, no dates or times have been announced, but the government has said the airlines will analyze markets and routes should an agreement be reached between the two.

Currently, Kathmandu is not linked directly to Europe. Out of seven European countries, Nepal has so far signed ASA documents with four countries – France, Italy, UK, and Croatia do not utilise their right to have routes into the country. On a global scale, Nepal has ASA with 35 countries in total, of which 10 of these nations do not fly into the country.

Currently the Ministry is studying permission requests to fly into the Nepal from two new carriers including Oman Air and Spirit of Manila Airlines.