Unlimited flights under open skies policy can't be accepted now: Nepal tells India

NEW DELHI: Nepal has told India that the proposal for open skies cannot be accepted now as the Himalayan nation is in the process of upgrading its airport infrastructure.

Open skies policy allows countries to operate unlimited number of flights to each other's cities.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha has informed the Rajya Sabha that in the recently concluded bilateral civil aviation talks, Nepal welcomed the Indian proposal for open skies.


"However, they informed that they are in the process of upgrading existing international airport and constructing new international airports infrastructure and their civil aviation policy is also being revised.

"Hence, they are not ready to accept the open skies proposal at this stage," Sinha said in a written reply yesterday.

To a query on whether the government plans to install full body scanners at airports in the country, the Minister said no such decision has been taken.

"A trial of full body scanner was conducted at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), New Delhi on 10,054 passengers from December 5 to 19, 2016 to collect data to determine the criteria for body scanning technology requirement for passenger screening," he said in a separate written reply.