All seven provinces to have their own aircraft, says Tourism Minister

Pokhara, September 25 — Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, Badri Pandey, has proposed that all seven provinces operate their own planes under their names. Speaking at an event in Pokhara on Wednesday, he suggested that Nepal Airlines buy planes which the provinces can then operate under their own names.

During discussions with tourism ministers from various provinces and tourism experts, excluding Bagmati Province, he emphasized the need for each province to purchase and operate a plane in its own name. Pandey stated that there was an agreement reached in the meeting to allow each province to have its own aircraft.

“It was proposed in the meeting that Nepal Airlines would purchase Twin Otter planes in the name of the provinces, and those provinces would operate them. Everyone in the meeting agreed to this,” he said. “The planes will belong to Nepal Airlines, but the plan is to register them under the provincial government’s name. We are in the initial stages of this concept.”

According to him, the purchased planes will operate internal flights from the provincial capitals. “The planes will fly from Surkhet to Karnali’s airports. The same goes for Gandaki, where they will operate from Pokhara to airports within the province,” he added. “This could be a model for operating planes, as we also need to expand the airlines and add more internal flights.”

He mentioned that the new aircraft would also have share investments from the federal government, provinces, local levels, and the community. He expressed commitment to address the policy complexities, preparations, and legal arrangements necessary for declaring Pokhara as the tourism capital.

The meeting decided to form a committee to study the standards for the development and expansion of tourism pathways. The formed committee will prepare a study report to be presented at the next tourism-related committee meeting, Pandey informed.

This committee will be led by a under secretary from the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation and will include the Director General of the Tourism Department, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nepal Tourism Board, representatives from the Trekking Agents' Association of Nepal (TAAN), and tourism secretaries from all seven provinces, as well as representatives from the Federation of Municipalities and the Association of District Development Committees.

The meeting also decided that the tourism-related committee will convene every three months in different provinces, with the next meeting proposed to be held in Lumbini.