NAC seeks 6 more Chinese planes

KATHMANDU, JUN 08 - After concluding a six-aircraft deal with China, the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) is preparing to procure six more planes from the northern neighbor.

Under the direction of Tourism Minister Bhim Acharya, the NAC board has approved the plan and is sending a proposal to its line ministry in this regard. “The ministry will decide either to ask the aircraft in grant or under soft loan,” said an NAC official.

As per the plan, the national flag carrier has sought two Modern Ark 60 (MA60) and four Y12e planes. “We have asked the NAC to send a “request proposal” for the six aircraft to expand its fleet under the turnaround plan,” said Acharya.

A 10-year business plan of NAC has envisaged increasing its domestic fleet to 15 planes, including six new aircraft it has already ordered from China, by the next five years.

The troubled carrier will receive four aircraft (three Y12e and a MA60) under soft loans, and two (an MA60 and an Y12e) in grant from China. Of the six planes ordered, NAC received the delivery of the 56-seater MA60 on April 28. One of the four Y12e aircraft will be delivered on June 30, and the rest by September 30.

Meanwhile, Xi’an Aircraft Industrial Corporation, maker of MA60 aircraft, has sent two Chinese captains (capable of speaking English) to train NAC’s pilots.

The instructor pilots arrived on Friday and will be conducting training from Sunday, NAC Managing Director Madan Kharel said.

However, the corporation’s plan to conduct commercial operation of the MA60 from June 15 is likely to be postponed until June 27. Sources said due to the delay in the process of de-registration of the aircraft from China, the scheduled date is likely to be postponed. NAC had announced commercial flights with promotional fares from May 15 on different trunk routes, but was forced to ground its brand new plane.

As the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has directed the corporation to begin the commercial flights from June 15, Kharel said they would inform the CIAA about technical problems they were facing.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) has asked the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) for de-registration of the aircraft. However, documents of de-registration has not been forwarded yet.

As the MA60 currently bears a Chinese registration number, it should be de-registered first to issue a Nepali registration number. As two registration numbers for a single aircraft is not acceptable, Caan has 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. The national mark of an 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.

(Source: The Kathmandu Post)