Kathmandu, 2 December: Some sections have become active in shutting down the country’s only flag carrier, Nepal Airlines Corporation. In the process of shutting down the Airlines, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has decided to give the responsibility of the ground handling of the Tribhuvan International Airport to another company based on bedding.
The Corporation has been providing the ground handling services at TIA for decades.
In fact, the major source of income for Nepal Airlines is the ground handling of the TIA. Even during the poor situation of NAC, the Corporation managed its operational costs through the income from ground handling.
The Corporation, a government undertaking, has been ruined as the political leaders in power made the Corporation a venue for recruiting their party workers and squeezed the Corporation through planned corruption. Otherwise, until the introduction of multiparty democracy, the Airlines was earning profits and increasing the number of aircraft from its own financial sources.
The National Trading Corporation was earning profit until the introduction of the multiparty democracy in 1990. The Corporation was ruined after the political leaders made it a recruitment venue and initiated a planned corruption practice.
Finally, a decision by then prime minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai to shut down the duty-free shop at the TIA became the main reason for the shutdown of the Corporation.
Similarly, the government’s decision to suspend NAC from the responsibility of ground handling will be the main reason for the closure of the Corporation.
For Nepal like a landlocked country, the national flag carrier is considered a ship to link with countries around the globe directly with Nepal. Some foreign powers don’t want the flourishing of the national flag carrier, which served the nation during crucial periods, including the Indian blockades in 1989. The RNAC aircraft even lifted petroleum products, medicine, and other essential goods from Singapore and Bangladesh during the economic blockade, which should not be undermined.
People’s News Monitoring Service.
Login to add a comment