Kathmandu, March 13
Boeing 737 MAX planes will not be coming to Nepal after its immediate neighbour India banned the planes from flying into its airspace on Wednesday.
An aircraft of this series belonging to Ethiopian Airlines had crashed on Sunday, a few minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board. It was the second such tragedy in five months, following an October crash in Indonesia that killed all 189 passengers and crew on Lion Air Flight 610.
Airlines and regulators around the world have now grounded the model—though Boeing and the US government insist that it is safe.
Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has said that there have been no 737 MAX flights operating from or to Nepal.
Pratap Babu Tiwari, spokesperson at Nepal’s only international airport, says that only Slik Air was flying the 737 MAX planes to Nepal. However, after Singapore put a ban on the aircraft, Silk Air flew a different aircraft to Nepal.
Along with Singapore, China has also put a ban on the aircraft.
CAAN Director General Sanjiv Gautam says that the officials are holding talks on whether to continue banning the aircraft from entering Nepal.
No Nepali company owns a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
