Simrik Airlines (Kathmandu) says it has only now initiated the process of renewing its Air Services License (ASL) following the expiration of its current document in May last year.
Local Nepali laws require all carriers to renew their licenses every four years with an application to be lodged at least one year prior to the expiration of its existing document.
The airline told The Kathmandu Post in a statement that it had intended to file its application last year only to be thwarted by the devastating Gorkha Earthquake of April 2015 and an ensuing trade embargo.
However, the Permanent Secretary in the Nepali Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prem Kumar Rai, says the case is not straightforward. In this instance, the carrier must either apply for a new ASL or submit a petition the country's cabinet to issue a special dispensation to extend the validity of its current one.
The issue will likely only be resolved once a new Minister has been appointed. But in a bizarre twist, the carrier's Air Operator's Certificate (AOC), whose renewal should have followed that of its ASL, has already been completed. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has come under intense criticism for the lapse.
Simrik Air operates Beech 1900Ds and Do228s on regular passenger flights throughout the Himalayan kingdom.
