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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0269.PDF
FLIGHT, 3 March 1961 273 This Street in Patan, nsar Katmandu, is typical of urban scenery in Nepal Points on RNAC's Network Bhairawa Important railhead Bharatpur Centre for an extensive project Biratnagar Another railhead in extreme east. Important hydro-electric project Calcutta Commercial and tourist centre Delhi Diplomatic and administrative centre of Indian Government Dhangarhi Entry point into far western dis- tricts Janakpur Important place of pilgrimage, legendary birthplace of Sita, wife of Rama Katmandu Capital and population centre of Nepal Nepalganj Another railhead and place oj entry into far western districts Patna Connecting point for I AC services Pokhara Scenic valley of lakes and snow- clad mountains Rajbiraj Important district in the plains; Kosi Dam project Simra Main entry point to Katmandu Valley and adjoining districts T I E •==^=- Zandover ** -^13,000 ft i ipurna Mt.Ganesh Himalchul25.800 ft [FALGANJ •V £> Sca/e of Ancles 20 40 80 120 160 Mt. Everest'X?9.141ft •sMt. Kancheraunqa I : 28,146ft. 3 ! BIRATNAGAR \ TO CALCUTTA^ requirement to almost 4,000 hours. This cannot be provided by three aircraft as the company has usually to allow for one aircraft being out of commission down at Barrackpore (near Calcutta), where Hindustan Aircraft Ltd undertake major checks. HAL also overhaul all RNAC's P & W R.I830s. For this reason purchase of a replacement aircraft is currently being considered to restore the fleet to full strength. Operating at high average altitudes, RNAC's aircraft are restricted to 26,2001b on passenger services and 26,9001b as freighters. This means a maximum seating configuration of 28 passengers. Such a restriction is however, but one of three funda- mental economic difficulties facing RNAC. Another acute prob- lem is the cost of petrol; the average price paid to the suppliers works out at almost five shillings a gallon; and, after government duty is taken into account, the cost of a gallon rises on average to as much as seven shillings. This again is an unavoidable penalty of operating in a remote place like Nepal. The final burden borne by this airline is its cripplingly short-haul character; the average flight time over the whole network works out at slightly under the hour (external 2hr 15min, internal 45min). The most frequent service, Katmandu - Simra, involves a distance of only 44 miles! These adversities are reflected in an unusually high operating cost, equivalent to £75/hr. Despite this, the airline manages to break-even without recourse to subsidy. This is because load factors are pitched at a fairly high level—over 70 per cent—and fares are also above average between 6d and lOd per mile. This policy might appear at first sight to be typical of a monopoly whose main object is to avoid losses rather than to provide the best service to its customers. However, a 75 per cent load-factor in Nepal is not the same as a 75 per cent load-factor in Europe; where one is dealing with highly seasonal European traffic which tends to move in groups rather than individually, then this sort of load factor means that mmy would-be travellers are being turned away at the peak; in Nepal, traffic peaks and troughs are almost unknown, and almost every passenger is travelling alone. Another point is that pence per mile is not necessarily the best index of fare level—in Nepal it usually happens to be cheaper to fly quickly by RNAC than to travel laboriously overland by bus, rail or bullock-cart. Although the DC-3 is an admirable aircraft for RNAC's present needs, future requirements are likely to involve the purchase of more modern equipment. To cater for whims of travel agents— who tend nowadays to dissuade tourists from flying on services using piston aircraft—it is becoming increasingly necessary to offer jet travel in some form or other on RNAC's external services (on which six out of every ten passengers are tourists, as often as not elderly American widows or spinsters). A likely way of meet- ing this need will be to acquire a couple of Fokker F-27s. Looking further ahead, the airline sees the day when it will be operating regional services with the very latest equipment; but it recognizes th3t a lot of water will have to flow under the bridges of the Bagmati River before enough hotel building, airport improve- ment and tourist promotion has been done to justify such an adventure. JOHN SEEKINGS RNAC Management: Chief executive, B. Rayamajhi; secretary,D. B. Rana; chief accountant, B. K. Das; operations manager, R. K. Simha; traffic manager, G. P. Bhattacharya; engineering manager,R. L. Green; purchasing manager, J. N. Singh. King Mohendra's per- sonal 11-14 — a gift from Mr Kruschev
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