Nepal Airlines Boeing 757 – “The lost glory and Current Need”
By Sudeep Roni, 27 October 2016
Everywhere we can just see people talking here in Nepal about newly purchased A320-233 and the upcoming A330 series which is to be brought by Nepal airlines in the next quarter of 2017. Sadly, nobody remembers that the international current fleet of Nepal Airlines not only includes newly acquired Airbus but also two Boeing757 series aircraft.
When it comes to Boeing-757 there is not much to say about the aircraft due to its greater reliability and the trust which it has gained by giving dedicated service to the nation for the past 28 years. A senior pilot of Nepal Airlines has rightly termed our Boeing 757 “The flying horse of the nation”. Since the arrival of Airbus, Airbus has been given so much limelight in advertisements and promotional campaigns that sometimes people hardly know that our current fleet also consists of B757 and there is also a need to advertise it also in promotional campaigns as it is a very integral part of the company.
Nepal Airlines Boeing 757-200 9N-ACA | Karnali
People have developed different thoughts about Boeing 757. Some say it is very old and it can crash anytime in the air while some say it’s of no use and NAC should retire them. However there is a thing needed to be understood that in the past 28 years when we didn’t have had any aircraft our so called “Gandaki” and “Karnali” were there flying there higher and taking us safely to our destinations. Now too even after the addition of the new Airbus aircraft their role is the same. One can easily notice that our Boeing 757 remains in air for nearly 16hrs a day while our airbus remains in air only for 8hrs a day which makes it very easy to say that once can find airbus most of the time in ground while Boeing in air.
Nepal Airlines recently decided to reduce its fleet by removing one of the Beoing757 named “Karnali”. Rests of the airlines are in the process of increasing the fleet while we are in the process of decreasing our fleet strength. Isn’t it strange? Is that the solution? Obviously a big NO. Nepal airlines said that with three aircraft they can fly maximum upto 9 destinations but the need of the hour is to think that if they include the 4th aircraft too they can at present expand their network to 12 destinations easily. Expanding destinations by new A330 is the take of future but the thing needed to be understood is they can easily expand upto 12 right now itself with 4 aircraft which makes Boeing757 current need of the nation.
Since 9N-ACA has gone for C-CHECK in Singapore, the remaining B757 registered 9N-ACB has been flying tremendously covering 5/9 destinations itself flying 16hrs daily. There has been immense load on the left B757 aircraft and here too there is a need to dispatch another B757 back into service. But the good thing is that the remaining B757 is taking the load successfully and giving service to the nation fully fledged.
Yes, we all agree that Airbus is our brighter future but we all need to understand an important fact that our Boeing757 is our biggest strength which has already proved how airworthy and dedicated it is in terms of Nepalese sky.
