February 7: Shree Airlines has obtained permission to start international chartered flights with its Bombardier CRJ-200 and CRJ-799 jets.

After nine years of chartered helicopter service, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation granted the permission to the company to operate international chartered flights last Monday.

Joint secretary at the ministry, Suresh Acharya, told New Business Age that the company already had the license to operate international flights. “Recently, we only granted permission to operate international flights with its jet planes with the same old license.”

The company’s corporate manager Anil Manandhar said that Shree Airlines received the permission for international flights with its jet airlines after a long time. Now, the company has initiated the process to obtain air operator’s certificate (AOC) from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), informed Manandhar. Meanwhile, the company is still working to fix the destination countries.

An airline company can operate international flights only after acquiring AOC after examining the technical aspects, number of capable pilots and the capital of the company.

Currently, Shree Airlines is operating domestic flights to Bhairahawa, Biratnagar, Bhadrapur, Dhangadhi and Nepalgunj from its base in Kathmandu.