Grounded pilots to take off

Nepal Airlines co-pilots, who were barred from flying Twin Otters, are back to their duty from tomorrow.
Operation manager Captain Shishir Sharma today held dialogue with the agitating pilots and let them fly from tomorrow, one of the grounded co-pilot said, adding that the management has realised that it has made mistake by not letting them fly.
The management has grounded them alleging of being involved in politics in the office. "However, we have only objected to the appointment of a co-pilot, who has no flying experience of twin otter and is against the corporation's rule," he added.
Managing Director K B Limbu had appointed Man Bahadur Tumbahanfe to the post of captain about three months ago. "Tumbahanfewas with the Yeti Airlines and has been flying Jetstream and he has no experience of flying Twin Otter," the co-pilots accused, protesting the decision.
The managment has suspended the protesting co-pilots -- Sajal Kuinkel, R Banjare, Suresh KC, S Paudel, A K Khadka, D K Gupta, B Kathayat, P Shrestha, A R Shakya and Raman Ghimire -- from flying until further notice from the verbal order by Limbu accusing them of complaining to the anti-corruption agency.
There are only two Twin Otters currently in operation and the pilots get a chance to fly once in a wek as there are 27 pilots for domestic flights. According to the current flight schedule, only five pilots will be enough to handle the domestic operations.
R Banjare -- one of the grounded co-pilots -- told The Himalayan Times that managing director's decision to suspend them from flying was not legitimate. "The action was taken after the pilots were found approaching different institutions like CIAA and ministry -- lobbying against the management's decision to hire another pilot ouster,” Limbu said.
After today's decision to let them fly, the agitating pilots vow to continue to fight within the organisation.
Though the national flag carrier has five Twin Otters, only two are currently in operations in domestic route apart from two age old Boeing 757s that fly on the international route.