Bargaining hard with Ansett

By a staff reporter

The lease deal between the Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation and the Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services is still not finalised. Talks between RNAC and Ansett was still going on till late afternoon yesterday (Tuesday).

According to a source in the RNAC, there have been point to point discussions on issues outside the memorandum of understanding (MoU) "RNAC is doing some hard bargaining," the source said.

Meanwhile, the RNAC may be running out of time. The lease deal with the China Southwest Airlines (CSA) expired yesterday (Tuesday), and the plane leased from the CSA is flying away today.

But the RNAC source said, with the assumption that the deal with Ansett may not be finalised, the RA is keeping its option open to maintain its flight schedule. That means continuing with the CSA deal till an alternative is found.

So, pressure may be on the RNAC management to clinch the deal with Ansett, and some within the RNAC even say the Ansett may be trying to get a better bargain.

However, if the deal with Ansett fails, RNAC may again found itself in another round of tenders, negotiations and also another cycle of controversy.

But keeping other things apart, the latest price offered by Ansett could be considered as most competitive. The Australian company, which had originally quoted a price of US$ 4,100 per flight hours, has come down to US$ 3,530 after negotiations.

Meanwhile, there may be another issue raging within the Corporation. If rumours are to be believed there have been serious pressure for the RNAC to snap its association with Boeing and go for the Airbus plane.

The Airbus Industrie’s recent marketing campaign in Kathmandu is also seen on this light. Even within the RNAC there are divided opinions on which plane will be most suitable for the RNAC.

Some still think Boeing is the best bet for RNAC because of its long association with its plane and any future expansion should be based on Boeing’s planes. But the other lobby say the growing popularity of Airbus especially in the region makes it imperative for Nepal to flow with the tide. There were even rumours that RNAC might sell off its two Boeings and go for Airbus

Recently, the managing director of the Corporation had said that RNAC is working for a 15-year plan. Certainly a long-term perspective plan is meant for all aspects of the Airline, but the major focus could be on which plane the RNAC should go for than other things such as marketing and how to make the airline efficient and competitive. And there is bound to be stiff competition between the two sides because there is where the money lies.

IA to resume flights to Varanasi

By a staff reporter

Only days after Necon Air’s announcement that it is expanding its cross border flights to Varanasi, the Indian Airlines has also said that it is resuming its postponed Varanasi-Kathmandu flight from this week.

The IA will be operating three flights a week. The IA had resumed its fights from Delhi and Kathmandu from last month.

The Varanasi sector is considered to be important for the Nepalese tourism industry as well as for business purposes.

The flights of Necon and the resumption of flights by IA will give an easy access to a large number of Nepalese who want to go there for pilgrimage to that holy city, and also for many Indians of that area who want to come to Nepal as tourists.