As the government’s decision to resume domestic and international flights from August 17 is nearing, different airline companies are submitting their proposals to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) seeking permission to resume flight operations.

According to spokesperson for CAAN, Raj Kumar Chhetri, a total of 12 airline companies – including two Nepali airlines – have submitted proposals for flight slots.

“Generally, airline companies have to resubmit their proposal for slots if flight operations are halted for more than 60 days,” he said, “Hence, international companies are applying to get their slots to resume flight operations from and to Nepal.”

CAAN will allow only 25 per cent of the regular international flights and only 33 per cent of the domestic flights to operate from August 17 in order to prevent congestion at airports.

Besides two Nepali airlines — Nepal Airlines Corporation and Himalaya Airlines — other international airlines such as Indigo Air of India, Air China and China Southern of China, SalamAir of Oman, Jazeera Airways of Kuwait, Fly Dubai and Air Arabia of the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia Air and Malindo Air of Malaysia and Turkish Airlines of Turkey have also submitted their applications to CAAN, so far.

Before the Tribhuvan International Airport was closed owing to the coronavirus pandemic, around 100 international flights were conducted on a daily basis from the airport.