Reform NAC

Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) is in the final stages of buying two big aircraft to add to its fleet. That’s good news. NAC’s business shrank during the last several years due to sheer lack of aircraft. With just two jets, it failed to expand its operations, or even to maintain flight schedules, something that destroyed passenger confidence in the national flag carrier. It is unfortunate that during the last several years when almost all international airlines flying to Kathmandu added more scheduled flights NAC alone stagnated, and even shrank. This decline is unforgivable, especially as passengers flying to and from Kathmandu grew by leaps and bounds in the last one-and-half decade. Almost non-existent till 1990, the number of Nepalis working abroad alone grew to over 1.5 million. If our national flag carrier had offered them a reliable and decent enough service, there was no reason they would not have patronized it in droves.



Whenever we talk of NAC, we are often tempted to make comparisons with Thai Airways. These two airlines came into existence at almost the same time. But today Thai Airways is evolving into one of the major airlines of the world, while NAC fights for its very survival. This comparison may not necessarily be fair for Thailand and Nepal had comparable per capita incomes in the 1960s but today we can only envy Thailand’s economic progress.



Still, there is no denying one thing: If the politicians are to be blamed for the sorry state of NAC, the management and other personnel cannot escape censure either. They are equally, if not more responsible for NAC’s steady decline. NAC is in dire need of reform and overhauling, and this issue assumes even more importance at the present juncture as the corporation is about to buy two aircraft with the government as underwriter. The government must make sure now that NAC’s dues will not have to be paid up in future out of taxpayer’s money. The state had once abolished the practice of the government acting as guarantor of public enterprises because the arrangement was terribly misused. With the ultimate burden of repaying loans lying elsewhere public enterprises simply failed to take accountability and responsibility seriously. Now that the government has decided to resume state guarantees for public enterprises it becomes duty-bound to make sure that past stories of mismanagement are not repeated. To that end the government must force harsh reforms on NAC and also learn to insulate the corporation from political interference. Given the past record, this is asking too much but we are willing to take a chance this time round, for the alternative appears much worse.

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