The dusty bronze Yeti in front of the Royal Nepal Airlines building wears a rather dejected look these days. Paint is peeling off what used to be the smartest building on the corner of New Road, the insides are rundown, and the lackadaisical and grumpy faces in the corridors say it all: one of Nepal's most successful and potentially most profitable companies is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Royal Nepal is in a tailspin not because the business isn't viable anymore, but because post-democracy politicians have gnawed it to its bones. This is all that is left:

Unpaid loans and overdrafts adding up to nearly Rs 3 billion.
A mortgaged fleet of Twin Otters flying on spares cannibalised from grounded aircraft.
Two Boeing 757s, one of which has been grounded for two months because the airline can't pay for its engine overhaul. Also mortgaged.
Two leased aircraft (a 767 from Lauda Air and a 757 from China Southwest) are
flying nearly empty.
Land and building, which banks will acquire if airline doesn't pay up.