After 130 aircraft fatalities, the government decides it's imperative to draft an insurance bill.

As it gets ready to submit the draft bill on air carriers' responsibility and insurance for domestic airlines to the ministries of law and finance for feedback, the tourism ministry has extended an invitation to aviation stakeholders to finalize the document.

Officials from the ministry say that on September 2, all parties involved were asked to provide feedback.

The proposal will be given to the ministries of finance and law after receiving their recommendations, according to officials, before being presented to the Cabinet.

The Cabinet's approval is required before the bill can be registered in Parliament.

The request from the tourism ministry to write the liability and insurance bill for domestic air carriers was approved by the previous government on March 1.

On December 15, 2018, Nepal ratified the Montreal Convention 1999 (MC99). In the event of a passenger's death or injury, only foreign airlines are held accountable under the MC99.

Though a draft of a comparable law had been prepared, the process of enacting a similar law was shelved a year after Nepal passed the MC99.

Officials from the tourism ministry said that when governments changed, the process repeatedly stagnated. Eleven ministers have joined the government after the MC99's writing began in 2019.

Thirty-one persons have died in six deadly plane and helicopter crashes since the year 2019, and all of the victims' families have been denied the $100,000 in reasonable compensation that the proposed rules would have provided.

But the draft is prepared. And officials anticipate that the registration procedure can be finished in a few weeks given political will. Before the draft bill was finalized in 2020, it underwent significant discussion with the stakeholders.

However, few politicians have the desire to serve the public interest. It did not interest any minister to see the bill through. They only performed a stunt. "No work," a senior ministry official declared.

A five-fold increase in compensation from domestic carriers for death or injury is proposed in the draft bill pertaining to air carriers' liability and insurance.

The proposed rule requires domestic airlines to compensate passengers who are injured or die for a minimum of $100,000. At the moment, a domestic flight's minimum payout for a deceased passenger is $20,000.

Carriers are required to pay 128,821 Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) or $171,018 under the Montreal Convention of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) if their carelessness or wrongful act or omission caused the damage.

The International Monetary Fund uses SDRs as an interest-bearing international reserve asset.

The families of the victims in any crash have the right to an unlimited amount of compensation under the Montreal Convention of 1999 for a wrongful death.

According to the draft bill, the carrier must pay in advance when it becomes essential to address the passengers' or the victims' families' emergency financial demands.

The proposed law states that within 60 days of the incident or accident, a compensation claim must be made with the airline or its agents. If the airline's carelessness caused or contributed to the loss, the carrier's responsibility limitation for lost or damaged cargo is $20 per kilogram. There is a $5,000 maximum restriction on cargo damage.

In the event that the hand luggage is lost or destroyed, $400 will be reimbursed.

Effective December 28, 2019, the Montreal Convention 1999 limits a carrier's liability for goods lost, damaged, or delayed at 22 SDRs per kg ($29.21 per kg) in cases of destruction, loss, damage, or delay pertaining to cargo carriage.

In the event that baggage is lost, damaged, destroyed, or delayed, carriers are required to pay 1,288 SDRs ($1,709.90) for each passenger.

Similarly, each passenger should receive 5,346 SDRs ($7,097.16) as compensation for any harm brought on by a delay in the transportation of people.

Additionally, the draft establishes the third party's minimum compensatory damages. The minimum compensatory damages that an airplane weighing 10 tonnes or less must provide to a third party under the proposed rule would be $25 million.

Similar to this, an aircraft weighing up to 35 tonnes must pay a minimum of $35 million in compensatory damages to a third party; an aircraft weighing more than 35 tonnes must pay a minimum of $60 million.

A few provisions, like the carrier's obligation for delays and unlimited compensation, have drawn objections from domestic carriers, who claim that they are unrealistic in a nation like Nepal.

Airlines claim they cannot afford to be held responsible for delays due to Nepal's unique geographic location, climate, and airport infrastructure.

Officials from the tourism ministry claim that the proposed law is a modified version of the 1999 Montreal Convention since it contains various provisions that local airlines would find challenging to adhere to.