Forty-two government agencies, airlines, hotels, construction companies and service providers owe Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) more than Rs 1.55 billion, or Rs 155 crore, according to the latest outstanding-dues statement of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).
The money is owed to the airport, not by it. It covers unpaid rent for buildings and offices, electricity and water bills, aircraft landing and parking charges, air navigation charges, passenger service charges, and cargo and other airport fees. CAAN operates the airport and is responsible for collecting the revenue.
Three debtors account for 73 percent
The three largest balances add up to about rs 113.63 crore, roughly 73 percent of the total amount:
- TIA Customs Office: Rs 57.20 crore
- Himalaya Airlines: Rs 35.77 crore
- Oriental Hotels Ltd (Hotel Radisson): Rs 20.66 crore
Customs office: nearly 27 years of arrears
TIA General Manager Tek Nath Sitaula said the Customs Office has not paid rent, electricity and water charges since CAAN began operating in 1999. CAAN was set up under the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal Act, 2053 (1996) and took over buildings and assets of the former Department of Civil Aviation. The Customs Office stayed in the airport premises. Sitaula said CAAN sent bills and reminders periodically but did not recover the money.
The Auditor General's performance audit report of 2079 had already recorded the disputed Customs rent arrears at Rs 55.1586 crore in FY2018/19 and Rs 56.1031 crore by the end of FY2020/21. It noted that CAAN had been corresponding on collection since 2070 BS without resolution. Himalaya Airlines owed Rs 62.92 crore in October. It paid Rs 20.016 crore on Oct 7, leaving about Rs 42.90 crore.
In October, CAAN said about Rs 44 crore of the airline’s balance was passenger service charges, which are collected from passengers through ticket prices and must be passed to CAAN. The charge is Rs 3,000 per departing international passenger. >The accumulated losses are about Rs !5 billion. Fuel prices, higher airport and passenger service charges, weak demand, the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2024 runway closure for maintenance, the September 2025 protests, higher costs linked to the West Asia conflict, and lower occupancy after the Bhotekoshi disaster are the reasons resulting to the loss as per Himalaya VC.
Oriental Hotels owes Rs 20.66 crore.
Several other organizations and airlines owe significant amounts, with Universal Supply Agency topping the list at Rs 8.72 crore, followed by IMS Airport Services at Rs 6.26 crore.
Major domestic and international carriers also carry substantial balances, including Necon Air at Rs 4.63 crore, Guna Airlines at Rs 4.39 crore, Cosmic Air at Rs 2.69 crore, Jet Airways at Rs 2.02 crore, Gulf Air at Rs 1.86 crore, and Kingfisher Airlines at Rs 1.15 crore, alongside Food City Nepal, which owes Rs 2.90 crore.
Smaller outstanding amounts are held by Air Sahara at Rs 34 lakh, Pakistan International Airlines at Rs 26 lakh, Bahrain Air at Rs 24 lakh, and the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) at Rs 14.28 lakh.
Several of these airlines no longer operate regular services in Nepal, which makes recovery difficult. UNMIN ended its work in January 2011. The 2079 BS audit found 55 active businesses in airport premises owed CAAN Rs 39.39 crore in 2075/76, Rs 44.64 crore in 2076/77 and Rs 55.36 crore in 2077/78, a rise of about 40 percent in the last year. Sita Inco Nepal was the largest, at about Rs 27.15 crore. It also found 49 inactive businesses owing about Rs 15.73 crore. It criticised CAAN for not acting while those firms were operating and for not holding staff accountable. Universal Supply Agency appeared at about Rs 8.7261 crore, almost the same as now.
Section 10 of the CAAN Act lets the authority collect charges for buildings, land, electricity and other services, and Section 27 allows amounts due to be recovered as government dues. The Airport Service Charge Regulations, 2078 require airlines to pay invoices within 30 days. A late charge of 0.05 percent a day applies for the first 60 days, then 15 percent annual interest on the principal and accumulated late fees. CAAN can suspend permits and flights, stop activities after 60 days of non-payment, hold assets in airport premises, blacklist defaulters for up to three years and require security deposits.
For scale, CAAN reported total revenue of about Rs 14.75 billion in FY2081/82, of which Rs 13.53 billion was aeronautical and Rs 1.22 billion non-aeronautical. The arrears equal about 10.5 percent of that, though the revenue figure covers all of CAAN and the arrears are accumulated.
