Aviation Law

Bhandari Law and Partners has worked consistently in the aviation sector, providing specialized services across aircraft finance, sale and purchase of aircraft, aircraft leasing, aircraft registration, engine leasing, aviation insurance matters, and aircraft-related disputes including accident claims. We also advise on the compliance requirements aviation businesses owe to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).

 

The Legal Framework

Civil aviation in Nepal is governed by a layered set of statutes: the Civil Aviation Act, 2015 B.S. (1959), which provides the foundational legal basis for the sector, and the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Act, 2053 (1996), which established CAAN as the autonomous body regulating civil aviation and overseeing both safety and service provision — CAAN effectively functions as both regulator and, in areas like air navigation services and aerodrome operations, service provider. The Civil Aviation Regulation, 2058 (2002), fills in the operational detail — aircraft registration procedures, aerodrome certification, security requirements, and accident investigation rules.

Nepal has acceded to a number of international civil aviation conventions, including the Convention on International Civil Aviation (ICAO Convention), 1944, and the Montreal Convention on the suppression of unlawful acts against civil aviation. One detail that genuinely matters for aircraft finance and leasing work specifically: Nepal has not adopted the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment, the international framework many jurisdictions rely on to give aircraft financiers and lessors streamlined, internationally recognized remedies on default. Without Cape Town in force, security and repossession rights over aircraft financed or leased into Nepal rest more heavily on domestic contract and registration law — which makes careful structuring of finance and lease documentation, rather than reliance on an international registry, the practical safeguard for lenders and lessors here.

Aircraft registration itself runs through CAAN, which issues a certificate of registration, and foreign-registered aircraft entering Nepal face their own set of procedural requirements — designation through an Air Service Agreement between Nepal and the aircraft's home country, advance permit applications typically submitted at least 60 working days ahead, and specific documentation including the aircraft's certificate of registration.

 

What We Do

 

Aircraft finance and leasing

We advise on aircraft finance transactions, aircraft leasing, and engine leasing arrangements, structuring the documentation to protect a financier's or lessor's position given Nepal's domestic legal framework.

 

Sale and purchase of aircraft

We advise on and document the sale and purchase of aircraft, working through the registration and regulatory steps that accompany a change of ownership.

 

Aircraft registration

We assist with aircraft registration before CAAN, managing the documentation and procedural requirements involved.

 

Aviation insurance

We advise on aviation insurance matters, a particularly technical area given the scale of exposure involved in aviation risk.

 

Dispute resolution, including accident claims

We represent clients in aircraft-related disputes, including accident claims, where the stakes and the technical complexity both run high.

 

Regulatory compliance

We advise on the compliance obligations airlines and aviation businesses owe to CAAN, keeping clients ahead of regulatory requirements rather than reacting to them.

 

Our Experience

We've advised international airlines commencing commercial operations in Nepal on the regulatory steps that entry requires, and we routinely work with national and international airlines, international banks and financial institutions, insurance companies, and CAAN itself. That range of counterparties means we understand the regulatory process from more than one side of the table, which tends to make these matters move faster for our clients.