Nepali team to visit China to verify design, manufacturing of MA-60 jet
KATHMANDU, AUG 14 -
A four-member team from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal ( CAAN ) and Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) is visiting China on Saturday to verify the design and manufacturing standards of Chinese-made MA-60 aircraft.
The NAC is planning to procure the two 58-seater twine-engine turboprop from China’s Xi’an Aircraft Industrial Corporation.
China has pledged providing a 19-seater Harbin Y-12e and a 58-seater MA60 turboprop in grant and the government plans to buy four other aircraft — three Harbin Y-12e and an MA60 — taking soft loans from the EXIM bank. The team has been mandated to carry out documentation and verification of the aircraft on whether it has been maintained and inspected as per the Federal Aviation Regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and China Aviation Regulation.
The team will also hold discussion with the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the China’s Xi’an Aircraft Industrial Corporation — the MA60’s manufacturer. Another Nepali team is also scheduled to visit China on the first week of September to assist the first group.
The government has planned borrowing $35 million in soft loans from the China EXIM bank to procure four aircraft for NAC’s fleet expansion. The much-delayed project had been in limbo since November last year. NAC had signed a commercial agreement with AVIC International Holdings, a Chinese government undertaking, to procure six aircraft on November 29. An understanding was reached, under which China would provide two aircraft in grant within two months of the signing of the loan agreement, and the rest after five months of the first delivery.
On August 6, an EXIM bank delegation visited Nepal to review the status of the project. But the visit did not yield any outcome as the technical study of the plan was not completed. Subsequently, CAAN officials pledged to decide on issuing the type certificate for the aircraft by October after reviewing the process.
CAAN has formed a “type certification board” under its former deputy director general Shambu Adhikari, according to Ratish Chandra Lal Suman, director general of CAAN . “The board will submit its report and necessary review will be conducted before giving it a final decision,” he said.
CAAN officials said the Harbin Y-12 twin-engine turboprop utility aircraft designed and produced in China’s Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation has been certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
On December 27, a three-member CAAN team visited China to inspect the MA60 aircraft. The team, following its inspection, reported that the airplanes were fit for the Nepali skies. The team then signed two agreements — technical cooperation agreement with AVIC and airworthiness agreement with the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
“The earlier visit was to inspect whether the Chinese aircraft was feasible for the Nepali skies,” said an NAC official. “This team will study the procedural and legislation parts.”
Source: The Kathmandu Post
