Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has published a 45-day auction notice to dispose of its five China-made aircraft—two MA-60s and three Harbin Y-12s.
According to Ramesh Poudel, the spokesperson for the NAC, the national flag carrier will hand over the aircraft to parties quoting the higher prices.
NAC grounded these aircraft three years ago. The annual cost of NAC for these aircraft hovers above Rs 200m. One of the aircraft, Y-12, crashed at Nepalgunj Airport. NAC has already received the insured amount for the aircraft.
Earlier, NAC had also published two auction notices to get rid of these aircraft. However, it didn't receive any applications.
NAC inducted the six aircraft into its fleet in 2014 to expand its share in the domestic market. The Chinese government provided one MA-60 and Y-12 as a grant, while it arranged a concessional loan to finance the purchase of three Y-13 and one MA-50 through a government-to-government agreement.
NAC owes nearly Rs 4bn to the Chinese lenders. According to the national flag carrier, it incurred a loss of Rs 2.5bn in five years from operating the aircraft.
NAC was to begin installment payments from Oct 2020. However, the aircraft were grounded from July of the same year.
NAC has cited reasons like a lack of trained pilots, high training costs to produce pilots (which are said to be four times higher compared to other aircraft) and high insurance fees, among others, behind its decision to ground these Chinese aircraft.
House committee to study EU blacklist
The International Relations and Tourism Committee of the House of Representatives has decided to study the decision of the European Union to continue Nepal on its Air Safety List.
A meeting of the committee held on Thursday decided to form a technical sub-committee to study the matter.
Earlier, the committee had sought a comprehensive plan from the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) to address concerns raised by the EU in its safety audit. NAC had submitted its plan in the meeting.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has also submitted its report, specifying future plans, to the committee.
