NAC postpones MA60 commercial flight
KATHMANDU, MAY 14 -
Nepal Airlines’ plan to conduct commercial flights of its new Chinese-made MA60 from Thursday has been postponed for the time being after the national carrier failed to submit necessary documents to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) to obtain the Aircraft Operators’ Certificate (AOC).
Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) said the process of obtaining the AOC has been fast-tracked, but it is not sure how long the process will take.
Besides, NAC has not been able to conduct test flights of the aircraft on planned routes.
It will take at least 15 days for NAC to bring its new aircraft into commercial operation if all of its documents are genuine or match with the certification process of the aviation regulator.
On April 28, NAC had added the China-gifted 56-seater turboprop Modern Ark 60 (MA60) aircraft to its domestic fleet, and announced commercial flights with promotional fares from May 15 on different trunk routes.
The announcement meant it was back into trunk route operation after almost 12 years.
Birendra Kumar Shrestha, spokesperson for Caan, said NAC has applied for the airworthiness certificate—the initial process for getting the AOC. “However, the documents are in Chinese language,” Shrestha said, adding Caan has asked the flag bearer to submit all required documents as per the rule.
After validation of the airworthy documents, Caan’s airworthiness division recommends for issuing the aircraft registration certificate or number, and finally AOC is issued for the new aircraft.
However, if a carrier inducts new aircraft of the same type it has already on its fleet, it does not have to apply for the new AOC, and the aircraft will be included in its existing AOC.
“It will take at least a week to issue the Nepali registration number, including the AOC, to the new aircraft if the documents are fully complied with eligibility requirements,” said Shrestha.
Aircraft are not allowed to make commercial flights without having a national mark of the country where it is registered.
The national mark of the aircraft registered in Nepal shall be 9N in the figure and letter and after the national mark there shall be a hyphen and a group of three capital letters in Roman character.
“Due to various due processes, we were not able to conduct the commercial flight as per our announced schedule,” said NAC Spokesperson Ram Hari Sharma. “However, we are doing our best to fulfill the entire requirement of Caan to bring the aircraft into operation soon.”
Sharma said they completed the aircraft’s customs clearance on Monday—which is one of the documents asked by Caan.
Meanwhile, the NAC is planning to forward the aircraft ownership document and airworthiness certification issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, among others, to Caan.
Test flights need to be conducted to every destination an airline plans to operate. Sharma said NAC has invited two certified instructor pilots from China for this purpose. “After the pilots arrive, we will start the test flights.”
Although, some NAC pilots have received training to fly the MA60, they should be assisted or should be under the command of the instructor pilots for a certain time.
On October 22, 2013, Caan had issued the type certificate to MA60 aircraft, allowing the plane to enter the Nepali skies for the first time for civilian transport.
Unnerved by two crashes in less than a year, the national flag carrier hopes to revive its domestic operations with a revamped fleet after all its Chinese-made aircraft on order are delivered.
During its heyday, NAC used to operate 18 aircraft—12 Twin Otters, three Avros and three Pilatus Porters—to 42 stations across the country. The troubled NAC has only a Twin Otter on its domestic fleet at present.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
