The future of single-engine aircraft in Nepal hangs in the balance with a government committee saying that allowing passenger flights and registering new planes requires a new policy response.

The Tourism Ministry stopped registering new single-engine aircraft since March 6 following the crash landing of an Air Kasthamandap P-750 XSTOL on February 26 in which its two pilots were killed. A minister-level meeting also decided to ban passenger charter flights by single-engine planes.

Subsequently, the ministry formed a five-member committee led by Joint Secretary Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane to study whether passenger charter flights by single-engine aircraft should be allowed or not and make safety recommendations. The panel submitted its report to the ministry last Friday.

“We have presented all the documents related to the operation of single-engine aircraft worldwide and their regulation besides recommending ways to make flights safer,” said a committee member who asked not to be named. 

The panel has not said whether single-engine aircraft should be permitted to operate passenger charter flights or not. It has not said anything about allowing the import of new aircraft. “The matter requires extensive discussions and new policy responses,” the member said. 

The committee had not been told to suggest whether the government should allow passenger flights or not, so its report doesn’t say anything about that, sources said. 

However, the committee members are unhappy with Tourism Minister Aananda Prasad Pokhrel’s instant decision to ban passenger charter flights and the import of new aircraft. They said that it had greatly affected travellers in the western mountainous region where flight services are scarce.  There are five single-engine aircraft currently operating in Nepal. Goma Air and Makalu Air have two each and Kasthamandap Air has one.  

The government had banned single-engine aircraft in the 1990s too following a series of accidents. The light planes returned to Nepali skies in 2008 after Maoist leader Hisila Yami became tourism minister and took a bold decision to bring them back.

Single-engine aircraft are known for their short take-off and landing (STOL) capabilities on any type of terrain. A STOL plane needs only 195 metres of runway to take off, and it can stop within 130 metres on landing while carrying a payload of 1,500 kg.

Single-engine aircraft have a history of more than 50 years in Nepal. A PC-6 Pilatus Porter provided support to the first successful ascent of Dhaulagiri in 1960. Swiss pilot Emil Wick flew a Pilatus Porter in the high Himalaya for the first time in the 1960s.

After the adoption of a liberal aviation policy, more private operators started flying single-engine aircraft. The now defunct Necon Air was the first private carrier to fly the Cessna Caravan.

After the government reopened the Nepali skies to single-engine aircraft, Air Kasthamandap became the first to acquire a licence to operate them. It re-introduced the Swiss-made Pilatus Porter in Nepal. The government’s decision was based on the premise that single-engine aircraft were suitable in a mountainous country like Nepal.