Pradeep Aryal, Chief of the Nepal Civil Aviation Office, Jumla, has expressed his commitment to ensure safe, accessible, and citizen-friendly air services while reducing the current problems.
Although counters for government and private airlines operating at Jumla Airport have been opened outside, tickets are being distributed from within the airport, making it difficult for ordinary citizens to access air services.
Distributing tickets from within the airport, providing tickets to those who have access to them over the phone, and waiting outside the airport for hours without getting tickets has increased the distrust of citizens towards air services.
Passengers have been complaining about problems such as irregular air flights in remote areas, lack of safety and reliability, and lack of effective and accessible service. Dhan Prasad Khatri of Sinja informed that the problem has arisen due to irregular government flights and arbitrary distribution of tickets in private planes.
The air services in remote areas are still not being citizen-friendly due to artificial shortages even when seats are empty, lack of online ticket service, and inability of large planes to land at the airport. Passengers say that agents have not been able to make the fare rates and ticket distribution system transparent. Nepal Airlines, Tara, Sita, and Summit Air are flying to Jumla. Even though all the flight counters have been opened outside the airport, passengers are complaining that tickets are being distributed from inside.
Jumla Chief District Officer Deepak Poudel has directed that flights operating in Jumla must distribute tickets from the counter. He said, ‘Legal action will be taken against the airline companies that do not distribute tickets from the counter.’ District Coordination Committee Chief Gaurinanda Acharya said that citizens are not getting tickets due to the delay in opening the counter. Saying that the current situation is the same as it was in the past, he urged them to provide citizen-friendly services.
‘Decisions have been made many times regarding the airport, but they are not being implemented,’ said District Coordination Committee Chief Acharya. ‘The decisions made now should be implemented.’ National Human Rights Commission Karnali Province Branch Office Jumla Chief Kalpana Nepal Acharya said that the rights of passengers are violated the most at the airport. She said that everyone should be interested in the management of the airport.
Pradeep Aryal, Chief of the Nepal Civil Aviation Office, Jumla, expressed his commitment to ensure safe, accessible and citizen-friendly air services by reducing the current problems.
An interactive program was also organized on Sunday by the Civil Aviation Office, Jumla, District Administration Office and the National Human Rights Commission Provincial Branch Office to resolve the problems seen at the airport.
