The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) is celebrating its 17th anniversary today. It has become a pace-setter in developing and maintaining a safe, reliable and efficient air transport system in the country. Since its inception in 1998, it has facilitated more than 50 million air travelers and successfully handled around 1.4 million flights despite various constraints.In 1998, there were 1.7 million air passengers in Nepal, which has now surged to 5.1 million. Likewise, 15 international airlines were operating to and from Kathmandu in 1998; 26 do now. The 19,768 seats offered by international airlines have increased to 51,031. CAAN has been grappling with all these challenges to make Nepali skies safer.
At a time our economy, foreign employment and livelihood are more and more dependent on air transport, CAAN's role is crucial. The current development paradigm that depends on liberal and globalized international market cannot function without safe and efficient air transport.
CAAN is not just a profit-making organization. After the Turkish Airlines crash on March 4th, 2015, there was only four-day interruption of international flights at Tribhuvan International Airport. CAAN's role in rescue and relief operations during devastating earthquakes shows its humanitarian obligations. There was a lot of discussion about how we could dispense emergency services for travelers. Eight months have passed since those two events. But are we better prepared to tackle similar challenges?
CAAN was formed with the idea that an autonomous entity would be free from external control and interference. It has not happened yet. Innovations in information and technology and management science have resulted in vast changes in the way organizations are managed and led. CAAN is yet to benefit from these changes.
Aviation is a metaphor of globalization. Aviation/aerospace technology calls for highest assurance of safety in terms of time, efficiency, mechanics, and preparation for unpredictable occurrences.
Nepali aviation has a long way to go. The organization responsible for managing and regulating the country's highly sophisticated aviation system still relies on conventional Tippani/Aadesh system while making and executing important decisions.
Existing CAAN acts and rules are influenced and controlled by outdated bureaucratic norms. Those laws need to be amended to make CAAN a truly autonomous entity. It is essential to reduce irrelevant roles and responsibilities and delegate maximum financial, operational and administrative freedom to relevant individuals.
Delays and flight cancellations are common in TIA. It gets worse when flight operation is interrupted due to adverse weather conditions. Considering propensity of airlines to schedule flights at peak hours and increasing trend of large-body fleets, we should determine TIA's flight handling capacity. For this an in-depth assessment of Nepal's airfield and airspace is necessary. We need to better plan national air transport system that determines communications and navigational systems, airfield capacity and airspace design. Maintaining required air transport capacity not only facilitates smooth flight movement but also ensures safety and efficiency.
CAAN is a blend of seventeen different disciplines with more than 1,500 workers at various levels and qualifications. However there is no separate human resource department. Its functions are spread over several units such as administration department, recruitment unit, recordkeeping, promotion and transfer units. Most of HR-related decisions are taken by various ad-hoc committees comprising officials of CAAN, Ministry and Public Service Commission.
CAAN activities are guided by ICAO documents. The ICVM (ICAO Coordinated Validated Mission) of July 2013 has raised the issue of establishing and implementing mechanisms to enable CAAN to recruit and retain adequate number of sufficiently qualified and experienced technical staff in all areas.
Effectiveness of any organization depends on how its structure simplifies responsibility, authority, accountability and interrelations between departments. The organizational structure should be flexible in decision making. New organization structure has been proposed to separate service provider and regulator duties. I hope this will be fruitful.
CAAN's activities can be divided under two main categories. Operational category which is related with flight operation, aerodrome and flight operation, and managerial which is related with regulation, administration, law and account which are not directly associated with flight operation.
A well coordinated data and information sharing and management system needs to be introduced to ensure efficiency of all services in question. Success and sustainability of an organization depends on how effectively and efficiently it can convert its resources into set products. ICAO has recommended four key performance areas (KPAs), relating to safety/security, service quality, financial management and environmental performance. CAAN's performance should be evaluated based on those KPAs.
In the process of handling of 1.4 million flights since 1998, Nepal has witnessed 49 accidents and 276 fatalities. The average global accident rate for aircraft above 5,700 kg takeoff weight is approximately one in four million departures. As per ICAO safety report 2014, world accident rate has reduced to 2.4 accidents and fatalities per 5.4 per million departures. CAAN has the responsibility of abiding by KPAs and making its operation most reliable.
The author is manager of Air Traffic Services/Search and Rescue Division at the Tribhuvan International Airport
Related story
Half of CAAN employees relocated to new building at Sinamangal
