Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has reportedly decided to lease out or sell its six grounded China-made aircraft.<\/p>\n
The national flag carrier has grounded the Y12e and MA60 aircraft since July last year as these were allegedly causing losses, reported Kathmandu Post.<\/p>\n
In 2012, Nepal Airlines signed an agreement with Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) to acquire six aircraft \u2013 two MA60s and four Y12es.<\/p>\n
Under this deal, China offered grant and concessional loan of $62.13m (CNY408m) for the six airplanes.<\/p>\n
Out of $62.13m, a grant of $27.4m (CNY180m) was given by China for one 56-seater MA60 and one 17-seater Y12e aircraft, while the remaining amount was taken as loan by Nepal to procure one MA60 and three Y12e airplanes.<\/p>\n
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The carrier plans to initially invite offers from national and international bidders to dry lease the aircraft but will go ahead with the sale if there are no takers.<\/p>\n
Kathmandu Post quoted Nepal Airlines managing director Dim Prasad Poudel as saying: \u201cOut of the two options recommended by the Finance Ministry\u2014dry lease or outright sale\u2014Nepal Airlines will try the first one.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have constituted a committee to determine the lease rate. The panel will submit a report within a week, and we will show it to the board for its go-ahead.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
As of now, only five of the six aircraft are functional and one requires maintenance after crashed landing on the runway of Nepalgunj Airport on 28 March 2020.<\/p>\n
The carrier stated that it incurred financial losses due to various reasons including load penalties, insurance, scarcity of spare parts, expensive parts, etc.<\/p>\n