NAC board likely to OK Aircraft leasing plan

KATHMANDU, APR 07 -

The Nepal Airlines Corporation’s (NAC) board is likely to approve its management’s plan to lease an aircraft until it gets delivery of its proposed jets from Airbus.

Tourism Secretary Sushil Ghimire said the board will soon approve the NAC management’s proposal which will help the national flag carrier to continue its service uninterrupted.

“Due to limited aircraft, which are frequently grounded, NAC has not been able to provide reliable service,” said Ghimire, who also chairs the NAC board. “Besides, the number of NAC’s flight operating stations has also dropped.” Currently, NAC has two ageing Boeing 757.

The management has recommended leasing an A320-200 aircraft from Airbus. “As NAC has signed a revised memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Airbus to procure two A320-200 aircraft, the proposal of NAC to lease the same type aircraft will also help train its pilots to fly Airbus.”

On Friday, NAC signed the MoU to procure two A320-200 aircraft from the European planemaker. As per the agreement, Airbus will deliver one of the two aircraft in February, 2015, and the second one will arrive in March.

NAC Spokesperson Ganesh Bahadur Chand said the management has proposed leasing aircraft from any of the aircraft-leasing companies. “After NAC gets the board’s green signal, a notice will be issued to aircraft leasing companies so that NAC gets plane at a competitive rate,” Chand said.

According to Chand, the management has proposed two options — dry lease or wet lease. “The management has given priority to the dry lease agreement as it is reasonably priced,” he said.

Dry lease means bringing the plane from the aircraft leasing company, but lease includes operation and the crew of the leasing company.

However, ministry officials said the board will prefer the wet lease agreement. “As NAC needs pilots, maintenance and training crew and spare parts if dry-leased, a notice for wet lease will be better,” the ministry source said.

If things go as planned, officials said the NAC will get an aircraft by September, which is also Nepal’s peak tourist season. As the carrier has withdrawn a number of international destinations, it plans to resume flights there once the plane arrives. NAC withdrew flights to Delhi and Dubai recently. “Besides, we also plan to go for new destinations,” Chand said.

Currently, NAC links Doha, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. As one of its two 757s has been grounded, it has suspended three flights to Kuala Lumpur and a flight to Hong Kong.