NAC New Planes

Senior Captain Vijay Lama of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) threw his hands in the air and cheered, as the new aircraft of the state-owned company landed today at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu and made a turn towards the hangar.

भिडिओ हेर्न तल क्लिक गर्नु होस् 

Nearby, NAC Managing Director Madan Kharel was smiling broadly with pleasure and satisfaction, while over 100 NAC staff members were greeting the aircraft with a roaring round of applause.

“Finally, a new plane has arrived,” many were saying cheerfully, as they walked towards the aircraft to take a close look at it.

The expression of joy was understandable, as China-made 58-seater MA60, which landed at the only international airport in Nepal at around 1:45pm today, is the first new aircraft to be added to NAC’s fleet after 25 years.

The state-owned airline company had last purchased a new aircraft — a Boeing 757 — in September 1988, which is currently being used to carry out international operations. However, NAC has not purchased a new aircraft to conduct domestic operations since January 1986, when it had received a Twin Otter.

भिडिओ हेर्न तल क्लिक गर्नु होस् 

In all these years, many attempts were made by NAC to purchase new aircraft, but the efforts could not yield positive results largely due to political meddling.

“We are happy we’re finally able to get a new aircraft.

This will definitely strengthen our domestic operations which are currently being made with only one Twin Otter,” NAC MD Kharel told The Himalayan Times.

However, NAC will have to wait for some time to use the new aircraft for commercial purpose, as it is yet to obtain Air Operator Certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. “We have already initiated the process to obtain the certificate and we hope to get it by May 10,” Kharel said.

Once the certificate is issued, NAC will use the new aircraft to carry out scheduled flights to Dhangadi, Bhairahawa, Biratnagar and Bhadrapur. For this, NAC had previously sent four pilots and nine engineers to China for training.

“But for the time being, American pilots sent by Avic International Holding, the manufacturer of the aircraft, will assist Nepali pilots in flying the aircraft,” Kharel said. “Hopefully, our captains will be able to handle the aircraft on their own within a month.”

NAC had received the new aircraft based on an agreement signed between Nepal and China in November 2012, which had paved the way for Nepal to buy four Chinese aircraft on concessional loan and obtain two other aircraft in the form of grant from China.

Following the signing of this pact, the Chinese government signed another agreement with the Nepal government to provide a grant and concessional loan assistance of Rs 6.671 billion to NAC to acquire and purchase six China-made aircraft.

Of the total assistance, Rs 2.943 billion has been allocated for acquisition of an MA60 and a Y12E aircraft on grant, and up to Rs 3.728 billion for purchase of another MA60 and three Y12E aircraft on a concessional loan. The concessional loan extended for 20 years comes with a grace period of seven years and 1.5 per cent interest rate.