Nepal Airlines short of pilots

Planes run by Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) may be grounded anytime soon as more and more pilots are quitting their job due to low salary and perks, local Nepal Samacharpatra daily reported Sunday.

Captain K.B. Limbu, president of Nepal Airlines Pilot Association, left the NAC to work for Air U.K. and pilot Bishal Dewan also started working in an Indian airline company after leaving the NAC.

Both were experienced pilots and were boarding the international flights of the national flag carrier airline.

The number of pilots working for international flights has decreased to 40 from 42 following their departure whereas the number of pilots boarding domestic flights is just 10 who have to board three planes of NAC.

"The number is too small given that the NAC's 10 international destinations and several domestic destinations," an NAC official said. "The plane will have to be grounded if the pilots are granted enough leave periods," he added.

A senior pilot at the NAC said that the situation worsened due to NAC's failure to provide adequate facilities to the pilots compared to other airlines companies.

NAC chief Gautam Das Shrestha however said that the corporation was serious about addressing the problems of pilots and would make more efforts to retain them and even to attract pilots from the private airlines.

Source: Xinhua