NAC unions warn of stir

FIFTH FREEDOM RIGHTS ROW
SANGAM PRASAIN

KATHMANDU, DEC 08 -

Trade unions of Nepal Airlines Corporation warned on Tuesday that they would shut down Tribhuvan International Airport if the government did not revoke its decision to allow Air Arabia to operate Kathmandu-Kuala Lumpur flights.

The unified trade union committee said that the Slot Committee meeting of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) had made an unilateral decision to grant Fifth Freedom rights to the carrier. The right allows an airline to pick up passengers at one destination and continue to another destination

The union said that the move was legal but against the national interest. “Selling NAC’s air route reflects an intention to make the national flag carrier go bankrupt and feed vested interests,” said Rajendra Regmi, president of the Nepal National Employees Union, central committee, NAC.

He added that although the country was celebrating Nepal Tourism Year 2011, NAC had been compelled to wage war against the government. “The government should be responsible for all the happenings,” Regmi said.

The Kathmandu-Kuala Lumpur route is one of the lucrative sectors for NAC that earns Rs. 8 million on a single flight. A NAC official said that the carrier had been incurring losses for three years on the route and that it only started generating profits from 2008.

Air Arabia is scheduled to launch its service to Malaysia from its hub in Sharjah on Dec. 16. The airline has already started selling tickets for the flight directly from its two official agents in Kathmandu.

The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation and CAAN had awarded the route considering the weak performance of NAC which now has a single Boeing to serve all its international destinations. The ministry and CAAN had aimed to fill the gap on the eve of Nepal Tourism Year.

NAC had also operated flights on the Kathmandu-Bangkok-Singapore route under Fifth Freedom rights some 15 years ago, but it had to pay a royalty to Thai Airways, said NAC deputy managing director Raju Bahadur K.C. But NAC will not receive any royalty from Air Arabia, he added.

The union said that the parliamentary International Relation and Human Rights Committee had called NAC to discuss the issue. The union said that the committee had told it that any protest by NAC could harm diplomatic relations and the objectives of the Air Service Agreement (ASA) signed between the two countries. Nepal has signed ASAs with almost 36 countries and all of them allow Fifth Freedom rights.

Recently, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had summoned the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation secretary Kishor Thapa, joint secretary Ranjan Krishna Aryal and NAC chairman Sugat Ratna Kansakar over the issue of allowing Air Arabia to operate flights. The unions at NAC had filed cases against them.