The number of tourists coming through NAC was 21,879 last year which was as high as 83,860 in 2001. The business of national flag carrier has been seriously affected mainly due to tussles between top management officials and a series of controversies over aircraft procurement procedure.[break]
According to the latest statistics of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the number of tourist arrivals through NAC has increased by 10 percent - the first positive growth in last seven years. However, the rise is not satisfactory in view of total tourist arrivals jumping nearly 20 percent in 2010 compared to 2009. Similarly, overall passenger movement has dropped for NAC. Around 232,577 passengers flew by NAC flight in 2010, which was 237,751 in 2009.
Indian Airlines was the market leader in 2010, bringing nearly 15 percent of total tourist arrivals in the country, which was followed by Jet Airways. Out of nearly 5 million tourists who came via air, 68,120 came through Indian Airlines and 67,602 by Jet Airways. Thai Airlines has also continued to be a major player in the market, bringing 50,956 tourists to the country.
Spokesperson of Nepal Airlines Corporation Raju K C said the major reason for the decline is increased competition and growing number of foreign airlines with modern aircraft. "We have only two aircraft and we no longer operate flights to European destinations and also to Osaka, Shanghai and some Indian cities like Banglore, Mumbai, Patna and Kolkata - major markets for the tourism industry," he said. NAC has stopped operation to European destinations for last 10 years. Similarly, it withdrew its flight to Shanghai and Osaka four years ago after failing to add any new aircraft to its fleet.
This is not all. The credibility of the national flag carrier has gone down because of last minute cancellation and delay in flights. "Because of the old aircraft, unexpected problems occur forcing us to delay or even cancel the flight as we can not risk safety," K C said. NAC has to reduce 50 percent operation if one of its aircraft is grounded.
NAC officials said about a decade ago the ratio of Nepali passenger and tourist was 30:70. The present statistics show that only 10 percent of total passengers of NAC are tourists. He said, "The ratio of other airlines has also declined because of increasing migrant workers but the additional flights introduced by foreign airlines have ensured that overall tourist arrival figure for them is not impacted, which unfortunately is not the case for NAC."
Tourism entrepreneurs opine that declining business of NAC is directly hitting the country´s revenue. Yogendra Shakya, coordinator of Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) 2011, said, "One of the major factors for decreasing tourism income despite positive growth in arrival is declining market share of NAC. Airfare is a big component of tourist expenditure, which is unfortunately going to foreign airlines."
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