It has already been 4 months of first wide body aircraft since its arrival however, no new destinations have been added till now for the national flag carrier Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC).
The national flag carrier had planned to operate flights to newer destinations namely South Korea, Japan, Australia but neither any progress has been made nor any accurate declaration has been disclosed. The two A330s are compelled to operate to the existing short-haul destinations incurring some losses.
As per the report from the Ministry, the corporation is bearing a loss of 25 to 30 crores due to being unable to operate wide body aircraft in long-haul destinations. The Ministry claims that the NAC’s aircraft for international operation are currently at their impotent condition.
The national flag carrier can earn 30 crores if it operates its A330s for 16 hours a day. Moreover, more revenue will be generated with the long-haul flight operations. But NAC has not received permission yet from Japan, Korea, China, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
At present, the two A330s are operating flights to Doha, Delhi, Bangalore, Bangkok with 8 hours daily operation.
The corporation’s spokesperson said that the process for acquiring permission for newer destinations is going on and the confirmation will come soon.
South Korea’s Incheon Airport and Japan’s Haneda Airport is in the wish list of the national flag carrier of Nepal. The South Korea said to send their technical team for the safety inspection of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and NAC for approval however, the team has not arrived yet. China also hasn’t approved NAC’s appeal for flight operations to Guangzhou Airport.
