By Shreekrishna Shrestha
The Nepal Airlines Corporation, formerly known as Royal Nepal Airlines, is the flag carrier state-owned airline of Nepal. The airline operates domestic services within Nepal and medium-haul services across Asia, in compliance with national and international regulations, while also handling ground operations at airports.
The ground handling of Nepal Airlines Corporation is internationally certified by IATA, and ISAGO, and this certification is obtained only after a Service/Safety Quality Audit, every two years. In Nepal, only NAC holds this certification, and no other does.
It is the pride of the nation and raises everyone’s chest with pride when it flies high as its own national flag carrier during high-level visits, whether domestic or international. It promptly rescues men, women, and children in distress. One can never forget the contribution of NAC during incidents like those in Israel, lockdowns, attacks in Afghanistan, or the earthquake in Jajarkot. Moreover, in the past, the airline even transported petroleum products from Singapore and Bangladesh when India had imposed an economic blockade. The country has demonstrated a strong presence through Nepal Airlines Corporation. Services are provided promptly during such times. Nepal Airlines Corporation is the identity and honor of the country. It is a bridge connecting with other nations. By operating flights and ground handling, it earns foreign currency, facilitates direct remittances, and helps increase the accumulation of foreign currency reserves, which contributes to the economic prosperity of the country.
This helps increase the foreign currency reserve accumulation, equivalent to nearly 20 billion rupees annually, through the bookings of travellers and tourists and 5-6 billion just with the ground handling. This sum is co-mingled with the airline revenues; it clouds the airline side of NAC’s dismal performance, which is an insignificant need for restructuring. The union also said that CAAN would be defunded if NAC was stripped of ground-handling services. Fifteen percent of its earnings are provided to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal as royalties, and the government is also informed about the 13% VAT and taxes on income. The contributions to the nation’s Reserve Fund and the Citizens’ Investment Fund are also made. The number of STOL flights is also increasing. The corporation plans to add three STOL aircraft very soon.
In such a scenario, the business mafias are trying to infiltrate the ground handling of the corporation repeatedly. The government is also getting involved in these dirty mafia games. If the TIA’s right of ground handling is being provided to privates rather than Nepal Airlines, not only the financial rights will be lost, but also the matter of national security will be questioned. Airports are the only valid entry points to the country. Thus, the government bodies themselves should facilitate the ground operation of the airport rather than giving it to privates.
Ground handling involves many critical tasks such as guiding arriving and departing flights on the ground, luggage handling, and various aircraft maintenance tasks. A study revealed that the frequency of non-fatal accidents in the ground handling sector was four times higher than the accident frequency of the industry as a whole This could potentially increase if ground handling is privatized, as companies prioritize profit over safety.
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