The Finance Ministry dispensed green signal to Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) to hike the salary of pilots and cabin crews. The spokesperson of NAC Rabindra Shrestha said, “The approval from Finance Ministry will be revised and finalized by the NAC board.” The new salary pay scale will implement from next fiscal year, he added.
Previously, similar type of proposal from NAC was rejected by Finance Ministry but now they have received positive response and support from the ministry.
The official announcement of new salary pay scale is not disclosed yet but the preliminary information suggests the senior pilot for international flight will see their salary increased to a maximum of Rs6 lakhs per month whereas co-pilot will receive Rs4 lakh monthly. Likewise, senior pilots at domestic routes are expected to receive Rs4 lakhs per month and co-pilots Rs1, 90,000 per month.
NAC is forced to increase the salary of pilots as it has only become the course of action for the corporation to retain its pilots. NAC has been encountering shortage of pilots occasionally. The famine of pilots has often been the eye-catching headline for the majority of news dairies in the country. The ruling reason behind the issue is the low pay scale NAC’s pilots have been receiving.
As per the information, the senior pilots at NAC currently earn Rs2,50,000 to Rs3,00,000 monthly whereas private airline company pay at least Rs5,00, 000 to senior pilots monthly. Due to the substantial difference in pay scale, pilot at NAC followed the trend of resigning and joining private airline companies hence, compelling NAC to hike the salary now.