Kathmandu, June 12
The meeting of the board of directors of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) – the national flag carrier – has approved the purchase of two 158-seater narrow-body Airbus-320 aircraft for the company on Monday.
The NAC management had recently forwarded a proposal for the purchase of the two narrow-body planes to the NAC board and it was approved by the board of directors, according to Rabindra Shrestha, spokesperson for NAC.
“We have been given a go-ahead by the board of directors to start the process of issuing a global tender to buy the aircraft.”
Earlier, NAC had formed a study committee to look into the feasibility of buying two narrow-body aircraft. The committee had submitted its final report in March, which stated that NAC could further enhance its services to foreign destinations with the new planes.
“We have a plan to acquire the two narrow-body Airbus planes before the end of 2019. We will soon publish a global tender for the purpose,” added Shrestha.
NAC already has two aircraft of the same make in its fleet.
Currently, NAC has been flying to New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Doha and Dubai. After acquiring the new aircraft, NAC plans to add more destinations to its schedule.
“The study committee had suggested NAC that the demand for the national flag carrier had been gradually increasing and the corporation needed to add more aircraft to its fleet to maintain that momentum,” informed Shrestha.
At present, NAC has been providing its service to international passengers through one Boeing 757 and two Airbus 320 narrow-body aircraft. Meanwhile, it is scheduled to take delivery of two Airbus 330-200 wide-body aircraft by July. The first one is expected to be delivered by June 27, whereas second aircraft is expected to be delivered a month after the arrival of the first one.
“After receiving the first aeroplane, we will start the process to obtain Air Operator Certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal,” he stated.
Written by Sandeep
This news first appeared on https://thehimalayantimes.com/business/nac-board-okays-purchase-of-two-narrow-body-airbus-aircraft/ under the title “NAC board okays purchase of two narrow-body Airbus aircraft”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
