Only 11 out of the 54 airports in the country have been operating at a profit during the last five years, said a report of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). And among them, 34 airports have been running regularly.
Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and Pokhara, Biratnagar, Lukla and Nepalgunj airports are the highest earning airports in Nepal. Meanwhile, Surkhet, Chandragadhi, Simara, Jomsom, Rumjatar and Thamkharka airports have been making average earnings.
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| Tribhuwan International Airport-KTM |
According to CAAN, its per passenger cost at Pokhara airport is Rs 122.62 while its per passenger income is Rs 233.16, giving it a profit of Rs 110.54 per passenger. Likewise, Biratnagar airport yields a per passenger profit of Rs 37.22.
The figures of TIA’s earnings from domestic air travellers have not been included in the report. CAAN has been preparing a report of the income of airports every five years.
According to the report, 23 airports are incurring minimum losses. Among them are Dhangadhi, Janakpur, Ramechhap, Taplejung, Bajhang, Sanfebagar, Gautam Buddha, Bajura, Dang, Lamidanda, Rukum (Salle), Rukum (Chaurjahari), Bhojpur, Dolpa, Meghauli, Simikot, Jumla, Mahendranagar, Bharatpur and Rajbiraj.
According to CAAN, it suffers the highest per passenger loss of Rs 2,788.30 at Manang airport.
Although, CAAN has been making efforts to transfer management of few loss making airports to private sector and the local community under a separate modality of public-private-partnership or privatization that was studied by a committee, however, it was not implemented.
CAAN had conducted a study on transferring the airport management to the private sector at Phaplu, Ramechhap, Jomsom and Manang in fiscal 2010-11. “However, the study report has been gathering dust due to frequent changes in government and all the ministers putting their own interest at the top,” said a CAAN source. “Each and every minister’s priority was different from CAAN’s,” the source added.
CAAN said that it wanted to go for privatization of the management as it would allow the promotion and management of the airport to become more effective. According to CAAN, the loss making airports have been suffering from a slump in flight and passenger movement while the cost of upkeep of the infrastructure has been escalating.
“If these unprofitable airports were privatized, the private sector would mange them more effectively to recover their investment which will also improve the quality of service.”
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