NATTA coordinated a joint meeting of NTB with all the international airlines operating to & fro Kathmandu on Friday, the 13th January, 2017 at Hotel Radisson. The meeting was well-attended by almost all the country managers of major airlines and a few high-level representatives from other airlines. President NATTA Mr. Madhu Sudan Acharya chaired the meeting and CEO Nepal Tourism Board Mr. Deepak Raj Joshi welcomed and spoke about the objective of the meeting envisaging the importance of mutual support and co-operation among NTB, NATTA and Airlines. Some of the issues in common severely criticized by the airliners were: constrains caused by the limited parking bays at TIA, high landing/parking charges, issues of improper ground handling, absence of NTB hands at the airport to support/assist the passengers arriving, non-clearance of the tower for landing on time, lack of adequate advertising of TIA at airports abroad, soaring fuel charges, delayed Airport bus services, untrained airport staff, poor infrastructure of the airport, imposition of VAT on fuel which is only prevalent in TIA, insufficient cleaning of the aircrafts on arrival and no special provision and facility for the Business class passengers etc. The airliners unanimously raised the voice that TIA should be operative round the clock. The existing state of affairs at TIA was deemed as unacceptable for the smooth growth of Tourism in the country. The meeting concluded with a resolution that soon NTB would be calling a similar meeting involving the participation of officials from the Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Civil Aviation (MoCTCA), Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) and Tribhuvan Int’l Airport (TIA). Chairman of the meeting appreciated the international airlines’ for their frank remarks and suggestions for the improvement of aviation sector of Nepal saying that it was high time for the Nepalese authority to pay heed to the issues raised and also said that NATTA would always stand by the efforts of NTB to overcome the lacunae pointed out at the meeting. Ms. Shraddha Shrestha, Marketing Manager of NTB thanked the participants for their active and most fruitful opinions expressed in the meeting. Some of the snaps from the meeting: