KATHMANDU, Nov 25: The flights of the national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC)'s narrow-body aircraft, have been affected due to the pilots' protest. The discontent over unequal service benefits between permanent and contract-based pilots has led to disruptions in the corporation's flights. "Pilots have not reported to work due to dissatisfaction over unequal service benefits for the same role and aircraft," said a source.
The wide-body aircraft scheduled to depart from Kathmandu to Mumbai at 10 am on Sunday only took off at 2 pm due to the ongoing protest. The NACs Engineering Maintenance Department and Spokesperson, Manoj Kumar Shah, said, "Pilots’ discontent over unequal services is the reason today's flight was affected." Spokesperson Shah also mentioned that the determination of service benefits should not be a unilateral decision of the NAC and that the situation is slipping out of control.
According to the NAC, a file was submitted to the government four months ago as per the pilots' demands. Spokesperson Shah stated that the file regarding unequal service benefits is currently with the Ministry of Finance. He added, "The matter about unequal service benefits has passed through the Ministry of Tourism via the procedure board and has now reached the Ministry of Finance." He further mentioned, "Only after an approval from the Ministry of Finance will the management committee implement it. The corporation cannot make a unilateral decision."
Pilot of Aviation Museum
He stated that since the management committee cannot make a decision overnight, the issue of unequal service benefits can only be addressed after a decision from the Ministry of Finance.
Permanent pilots have raised objections regarding the fact that pilots on contract for the same aircraft and flights receive better service benefits than permanent pilots. The pilots have expressed dissatisfaction over this issue for several months. They had discussions with the corporation's management committee regarding this matter.
After the discussions, the NAC sent the file with the pilots' demands to the Ministry of Tourism. The file has now reached the Ministry of Finance from the Ministry of Tourism. However, after permanent pilots, citing delays in addressing their demands, started making excuses and stopped coming to work, the NAC's flights began to get affected.
Permanent pilots at Nepal Airlines Corporation have not been coming to work regularly for the past few days. According to a senior official of the corporation, although the permanent pilots have not officially declared a strike, they have not been coming to duty, using various excuses, mainly due to the inequality in services and facilities. He said, "Some pilots have not been coming to work, citing reasons like illness or personal issues, with 6 or 7 pilots absent. As a result, the corporation's flights have been affected, and there have been delays in the flights."
On Sunday, after a four-hour delay in the narrow body flight of the corporation, passengers became angry. Frustrated by the flight not departing on time despite paying for the ticket, passengers became aggressive. The situation spiraled out of control, and the corporation's staff had to disperse. In this context, spokesperson Shah mentioned that passengers were calmed down and kept in the lounge inside the airport, where discussions were held to ease the situation. "Some passengers were upset after the flight delay," he said. "However, after discussions, the situation was brought to control."
Similarly, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, on Friday morning, the captain of the flight to Hong Kong informed at the last moment that he was ill, causing the flight to be delayed by five hours. Regarding Sunday's issue, the authority informed that it had already advised the corporation to resolve the difficult situation, ensure timely departures, and avoid causing inconvenience to passengers.
On October 18, the pilots of narrow-body and wide-body aircraft submitted a memorandum to Tourism Minister Badri Prasad Pandey regarding the issue of unequal services and facilities. Minister Pandey requested a one month period to address their demands. However, as the deadline passed without action, 12 pilots simultaneously took sick leave. Flights at the corporation have been affected in recent days after all 12 pilots from narrow-body and wide-body aircraft took leave.
