A meeting between Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA) and Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) was held on 27th August 2017 in Kathmandu. The representatives from NATTA led by President Mr. Madhu Sudan Acharya included NATTA Past Presidents, Executive Committee and the Officials at the Secretariat while Mr. Sugat Ratna Kansakar, Managing Director, led NAC delegation which consisted of Directors and Deputy Directors from different Departments. The meeting was a get-together for mutual relation-building and idea-sharing and had been organized alternatively by both the institutions on a periodic basis.
NATTA President Acharya highlighted the importance of strong national flag carrier to promote Nepal as a tourism destination. He suggested NAC to operate services to other tourist generating cities in India and China and to long haul traditional markets like Europe, Japan and Australia. Increasing the number of aircrafts was the major issue in the meeting. Mr. Acharya suggested NAC Management to make some reforms in flight management, in random and unprofessional-looking upgrading from economy class to business class while all passengers are already aboard, for the reliability of flight time and schedule, and improvement in In-Flight Magazine to name a few. He also focused on aggressive promotion, joint marketing strategy, packaging and expanding reliable domestic services as well. He further requested NAC to expand the fleet size up to 10 aircrafts by 2020 and 25 aircrafts by 2030.
Similarly, Mr. RR Pandey, former President and Convener of NATTA Past Presidents Council, expressed disappointment in the performance of NAC and attributed the weakening National Flag Carrier to several factors like lack of Government will power, internal management problems, and above all full control of the Government. He asserted that one of the solutions could be Privatization of the NAC. Other former Presidents: Mr. RM Singh, Mr. Rabi Paudel, Mr. Bhola Bikram Thapa, Mr. Ram Kaji Koney, Mr. Dhruba Narayan Shrestha and Mr. Arjun Sharma suggested many ideas regarding the strengthening of NAC and applauded the dauntless leadership of Mr. Kansakar in NAC. Mr. Bhim Prasad Panta, General Secretary of NATTA, was concerned about the deteriorating image of NAC in general public, passengers, tourism stakeholders and travel agents and alarmed the NAC Leadership about the shortcomings expanding and deepening in NAC.
Mr. Kansakar acknowledged the problems facing NAC over many decades ranging from the lack of aircrafts to the bureaucratic hurdles in purchase of new crafts, and smooth functioning of the airlines. He, however, expressed commitment and assurance that he would bring two wide body aircrafts within two years and aimed at upsizing NAC into at least 10 wide body fleets by 2030. Mr. Janak Prasad Kalakheti, Director – Commercial at NAC informed about reforms taking place at NAC and shared some plans to upgrade management skills inside the institution. Mr. Kansakar welcomed the idea of Privatization of NAC and said it was necessary according to the demand of time and service but appeared cautious about the modality which should be defined by Government of Nepal. He believed Government of Nepal would support him in his efforts to reform and strengthen NAC and invited support and cooperation from travel trade of Nepal in his mission. The discussion permeated into the issue regarding possible avenues to generate capital for NAC like public shares, pulling loans from banks and partnership with other corporate sector etc.
Organized by NATTA, the program was chaired by NATTA President Mr. Acharya and moderated by Mr. CN Pandey, NATTA First Vice President. Mr. Acharya wrapped up by highlighting the major issues raised in the meeting by expressing commitment on behalf of tour operators and travels agents for wholehearted support to NAC. The meeting was followed by Dinner.
Both institutions agreed on the following points:
1. Continuing such kind of Get-Together/Meeting in the days ahead
2. Preparing business and extension plan by NAC for 2020 and 2030
3. NAC to explore the possibility and to proceed for Codeshare/ SPA/IATA Accreditation
4. Extension of operation to China, India, Korea-Japan, Australia and Europe for inbound tourism market
5. Smoothening operation to Malaysia and Gulf to support Labor market
6. Trainings and optimization of Human Resources to better competitiveness
7. Joint Promotion with NATTA
8. NATTA to give priority to NAC for business as well as personal trips
