Delayed procurement procedure of Harbin Y-12e aircraft

June 06, 2017- Kathmandu

National Flag Carrier, Nepal Airlines has delayed the import procedure of remaining two Y12E aircraft ordered from Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation, China. The airline currently operates two Harbin Y12-e but none of the aircraft is currently in active operation due to the insufficiently qualified flight crew.

According to the report, the carrier has only one qualified pilot named Captain Uddhav Ghimire to fly the aircraft. The airline corporation had recently announced a vacancy for more pilots but it was largely unsuccessful.

National Flag carrier had signed an agreement with AVIC in 2012. The Chinese company had donated one MA-60 and one Y12E with contract condition for Nepal Airlines to purchase three additional Y12Es and one more MA-60. Nepal has slowly taken delivery of the promised aircraft but has blamed the aircraft for being unfavorable for the Himalayan terrain. The airline has been purchasing the aircraft on soft loans from China’s Exim Bank.

NAC is pretty sure the addition of new pilots will enhance domestic flight operations and also increase passenger’s belief on their service. There are two Twin Otter, Y-12e and MA-60 each for the corporation but the lack of pilots has interrupted NAC’s domestic flight operation.

Nepal Airlines had previously signed the purchase contract for the aircraft on November 2012 committing to land the entire aircraft to Nepal by the end of 2013 but the airline has only successfully brought two MA-6o and Harbin Y-12e each. NAC  is yet to bring two Harbin Y-12e.