A month ago when Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) invited applications from pilots to fill in the vacant posts, there was not a single response. This is the second time since NAC has failed to hire new pilots.

Why are pilots no longer interested to fly in NAC? NAC officials themselves know why. "First, the private airlines pay way more than NAC and second there are not enough guarantee hours, and our allowances are not competitive," said a NAC official.

NAC's management is different from private airlines, and the prestige attached to being a government employee has been steadily eroding over the years. "We do not get paid market rates, and because NAC doesn't have planes we can't get enough flying hours," says Nepal Airlines Pilots Association's Subha Raj Shrestha. He says NAC management hasn't been able to hire new pilots, and hasn't been able to stop the haemmorhage of pilots to other airlines.

Recently, the airline put out a vacancy ad for 20 junior captains for its internal flights, but there wasn't even one applicant. "We had hoped to get at least one applicant," rues NAC's Raju Bahadur KC, "two or three people took application forms, but none came back with it."

NAC presently has 11 pilots for its domestic flights and 29 on its international flights. But NAC's acquisition of new aircraft is on hold, which is why new pilots haven't shown interest. New equipment would mean the pilots would in the future get to fly to Europe and Japan. NAPA chairman Capt YK Bhattarai says: "Because NAC salaries are so low, pilots just aren't interested." Private domestic airlines offer salaries of Rs 350,000 for domestic flights, but NAC pilots earn only Rs 100,000 if they fly 75 hours in a month.

NAC pilots are threatening to go on strike before Dasain if their demands for better facilities and salaries are not met by the management.

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