Himalaya airlines, a Nepali private international air carrier which has been preparing to lease out its Airbus A320 aircraft has received permission to lease its 1 aircraft. The aircraft received permission from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) on Tuesday.
Around a month ago, the carrier had planned to lease out 2 aircraft out of 3 A320 aircraft of its fleet and CAAN has permitted to lease 1 aircraft for time being. The airline will lease out the aircraft for Salam air of Oman for 6 months.
The airline company has been struggling to make market according to its pre-declared plan thus has opted to wet-lease the aircraft as per international practice.
Now as CAAN has permitted to lease the aircraft, Salam Air can operate the aircraft in any of its sector and both Himalaya and Salam Air can increase the leasing period on mutual consent.
The aircraft will be operated by Himalaya crews, on its same call-sign and in Himalaya Brand but in Salam Air destination.
The carrier which has been operating international flight making Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) hub owns 3 Airbus A320 series aircraft and will now only operate 2 aircraft for 6 months.
The carrier has been reluctant to clear pending dues of TIA which has increased more than NRs 14 crore as the carrier failed to clear all dues since a long time.
The airlines has paid NRs. 1 crore of the service charge to TIA after receiving notice from TIA to take legal action as the carrier continuously failed to pay dues. The airline still has due of NRs. 19 crore to the airport office.
The airline has added new destination to operate the flight and has opted to lease aircraft so as to clear the debt.
Recently, Himalaya Airlines has announced the launch of a new direct air services from Kathmandu to Abu Dhabi and will be complementing the airlines’ existing sectors: Dubai, Doha, Dammam, Kuala Lumpur and Chongqing.
Himalaya Airlines was founded in 2014 as a joint venture between Yeti World Investment and Tibet Airlines.
