Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), national flag carrier has announced to conduct four flights from Kathmandu to Lukla on October 6, 2018 (tomorrow).
Ashok Sigdel, spokesperson of NAC stated that the corporation will operate 1 scheduled flight, 2 charter flights and 1 delay flight. Three flights will be conducted with its Chinese Y12-e aircraft whereas one flight with DHC-6 Twin-Otter, he added.“The corporation received approval from the authority to operate one flight daily at Lukla airport from Saturday”, Sigdel said.
Previously, the corporation conducted test flight successfully with its Y12e aircraft to Simikot, Dolpa, Talcha, Jumla and Lukla Airport, five years after it was inducted into its fleet. Only one of the four Harbin Y-12E aircraft is operational currently in the fleet of Nepal Airlines to operate in STOL airfields.
Nepal Airlines also plans to extend its service to other STOL destinations with its fleet of four Y-12E aircraft.
The 17-seater Y12e arrived in Kathmandu in 2014 and was intended to serve remote mountain airfields like Lukla, Jomsom, Manang, Simikot, Rara, Jumla and Dolpa. But its regulatory limit meant that it could only fly to airports with a maximum grade of up to 2 percent or about 1.2 degrees of slope.
