Given that Airbus-330 (A330) is Nepal Airlines’s (NA) new choice as stated in its ‘reform strategy’ unveiled last January, this piece attempts to see how widespread this particular brand is in the aviation world. Hypothetically, NA’s fleet induction will be even more challenging than it was for A320. It has improved since, but NA is still not out of the woods as both of its A320s still spend more time on ground than in the air.

Hurdles ahead

The other operational issue, besides shortage of cockpit crews, is inadequacy of qualified maintenance hands, a critical human resource factor. Needless to say, A330 will bring in additional issues of its own. Logically, these wide bodies will fly to destinations with a high migrant labour concentration. It is natural that Nepali migrants will feel more at home and will not miss an opportunity to fly NA, provided it can assure reliability. However desirable, reclaiming destinations like Frankfurt and London is effectively unfeasible for reasons well known. But connecting with Kansai, Osaka will still be possible.  

But the ambitious reform plan has not been approved and the possibility of acquiring the first A330 by December looks rather slim. Logically, the ministry seems to be pressing for management level improvements first. But this could suddenly change if the government cannot get out of the likely “stall” that the political pundits are predicting. “Stall” in aviation parlance is technically equivalent to running out of steam. In such an event, the approval of aircraft purchase could come in a jiffy, without the reform plan, that is. And if this was to happen, will it be unfair to assume the ‘stance’ of the ministry being just a ploy to buy time for making backdoor deals?

Despite problems arising out of fleet composition and dissimilar and diverse market conditions bedevilling NA, the introduction of A320 has injected some sense of optimism among its employees and the public at large. It is important to keep this positive momentum going. The focus must be on improving human resource capital, which should be done well in advance of the acquisition time frame. But NA has not been able to achieve this even 14 months after its scheduled entry into service.

A good choice

Let’s not deviate further. A330 is a medium to long range wide body aircraft that has been flying since 1987. The first variant A333 (or A330-300) came about in 1992 and a shorter version A332, with reduced range and seating, was introduced in 1998. Possibly NA chose it as it can carry 247 (range 7250nm). Its bigger version A333 can carry 277 but its “regional” version (A333R) has increased capacity (400) but reduced range. A333R is optimised for shorter sectors with large populations and high traffic flows.

Rather than talking about the different variants separately, we will deal with it just as “A330”. It does not mean that we are talking about the original A330 of 1987, as the market has been dominated by subsequent variants as detailed above. “A330”, hereafter, is taken to signify all variants mentioned above. This will help us avoid the number confusion.

An A330 is appropriate for short to long haul routes and this feature is its basic strength. Airlines can put an aircraft that just returned from a short haul leg (about 3 hours) to a medium haul one (6 to 7 hours) instantly. This has removed the compulsion of having to keep separate fleets of aircrafts depending on the haulage length. Besides, each A330 flight offers decent cargo capacity and it is a bonus doing away with the need for exclusive cargo flights. Airlines can uplift cargo continuously from each of their destinations.  

A330’s popularity in the Asian market is due to the fact that unlike in Europe, there are no effective rail or road connections between most Asian cities. The space between Asian giants is separated by water bodies. Naturally, Asian cities have a huge population base that creates continuous high traffic situation, making A330, which has been incrementally improved over the last 27 years, an ideal choice. It is a proven aircraft for being dependable and economical to run. A330 can do the nine-hour flight (Narita to Mumbai) as well as the half-shorter Kathmandu-Hong Kong sector without much hassle.

Turkish Airlines has managed to put A330 to good use, with a schedule as follows: Day one: Arrives early hours; makes one or two short haul rotations; flies to continental America. Day two: Arrives back in the afternoon; makes one or two short haul trips; departs for an Asian destination late night and arrives early morning on day three. The whole cycle is repeated again. It is more profitable than keeping a long haul aircraft on ground for about 10 hours.

The choice of A330 will definitely help NA, if it wants to help itself. This is only possible after an overall improvement in management. A brand new aircraft, however ideal and economical to run, can do little on its own. The policy makers should understand that. If NA does indeed come out flying as envisioned in the reform strategy, who knows it may even think of an A350 next! An A350 is the newest, fuel-efficient wide-body aircraft with extended range and capacity. Incidentally, both A330 and A350 have a common cockpit console and thus can even have common crew members.

Arjyal writes extensively on aviation