MA60 gets nat’l registration mark

KATHMANDU, JUN 11 - After a hiatus of 43 days, the China-gifted Modern Ark 60 (MA60) aircraft owned by Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has finally been issued the national registration number. The aviation regulator Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) on Tuesday issued 9N-AKQ registration mark, also referred as the “tail number”, for 56-seater MA60 turboprop.

“The registration mark has been issued and we have expedited the process of obtaining the certificate of airworthiness, air operators’ certificate, among others to put the aircraft for commercial operation,” said Ram Hari Sharma, spokesperson of NAC.

Due to lengthy de-registration process of the Chinese registration mark on the aircraft, the national flag carrier was forced to ground its brand new aircraft for nearly one and a half month.

“The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has forwarded the documents of de-registration of the Chinese mark on the aircraft to Caan, making it easy for the latter to issue the national mark,” Sharma said.  

As the MA60 bears a Chinese registration number, it had to be de-registered first in order to issue a Nepali registration number. As two registration numbers for a single aircraft is not acceptable, Caan had asked the documents of de-registration from the CAAC.

Aircraft are not allowed to make commercial flights without having a national mark of the country where it is registered.

Sharma said that after the issuance of national registration mark, NAC will be able to fly the Chinese-made MA60 before the deadline given by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to operate the aircraft.

On Tuesday, the anti-graft body had directed NAC to fly its grounded MA60 aircraft by June 29. It was CIAA’s second such order to the national flag carrier after the latter failed to meet the earlier deadline to put its aircraft for commercial operation. Earlier, the CIAA had directed NAC officials to start operating the new aircraft by June 15 or face action.

The second deadline was given to NAC after its officials sought extension of the previous deadline of June 15 saying that it was not possible to operate the grounded aircraft on that date due to China’s failure to send the de-registration documents on time.

On April 28, NAC had added the China-gifted turboprop to its domestic fleet, and announced commercial flights with promotional fares from May 15 on different trunk routes.

Source: The Kathmandu Post