Vijay Lama's 'Too much drag' (#199) reminded me of the time I asked an RNAC employee why the company was doing so badly. She told me that the airline has more than 2,000 employees for only two jet aircraft. If it were well managed, the airline could be managed easily by a dozen full timers and a few part timers. As Lama points out, the company has become a kind of employment agency for politicians, but may I say this problem is not peculiar solely to RA. The NY City subway system is still running on early 20th century technology, saddled with too many workers with big paychecks. It is a repository of political favours for most city officials. The people of New York usually dismiss them as lazy good-for-nothings. The situation is so bad that there are more managers than field workers. RNAC is in the same situation and the only way it will turn a profit is by going public or private.

Kiran Thapa,
New York