KATHMANDU: The Airline Operators Association of Nepal has come to the defense of Pradip Adhikari, the Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), following calls for his resignation after the recent Saurya Airlines plane crash.
In a press statement issued on Tuesday, the Association’s Chairman, Manoj Karki, emphasized that CAAN has consistently prioritized aviation security.
He argued that misinformation is being spread against the authority in the wake of the air crash.
The tragic incident involved a Saurya Airlines aircraft crashing at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) shortly after takeoff, resulting in the deaths of 18 out of 19 people on board.
Following the crash, several lawmakers demanded Adhikari’s resignation during a meeting of the International Relations and Tourism Committee under the House of Representatives (HoR).
The lawmakers held Adhikari accountable for several issues, including the failure to remove TIA from the European Union’s blacklist, seven air crashes during his tenure, and a lack of transparency regarding progress in aviation security.
The Airlines Operators Association argued that air crashes are incidents that occur beyond human control and should not be attributed to an individual, company, or authority’s desires or actions.
They emphasized that such events are unfortunate and not the result of negligence or intentional actions by CAAN or its leadership.
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