Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), the national flag carrier today celebrates its 60th anniversary. The airline is exclusively retained by Government of Nepal whose pivot is Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).
Coining about its history, Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) was originally known as Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) and founded on 1st of July, 1958. Nepal Airlines had instigated its commercial operation with one Douglas DC-3 Dakota having seating size up to 28 and conducting flights to Pokhara, Biratnagar and Simara as domestic service whereas Patna, Calcutta and Delhi of India as International Service.
However, in past years of its establishment the national flag carrier failed to make any meaningful progress. It had no adequate aircraft to cater international services. The Nepal Airlines Corporation situation that worsened with the advent of democracy in 1990 due to corruption has now been improved. Similarly, Thai Airways that was established on the same year the Nepal Airlines was established has emerged as one of the major air services of the world having a big fleet of aircraft.
NAC operated further eight diverse kinds of aircraft in the past. Some of them are still in provision. Currently, NAC operates 5 different types of aircraft which includes two Airbus A320s; one Boeing 757, three DHC-6 Twin Otter, two Xian MA-60 and four Harbin Y-12e. Recently, Nepal Airlines received its first ever Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft making a milestone in Nepalese aviation. The aircraft will be commencing its commercial flight from 1st August, 2018. Second A330 will also join NAC family on the end of July, 2018 as it has already completed necessary test flights.
Nepal Airlines was one of the top airlines to operate international flights and to provide air services to passengers in 2016 from TIA however, in 2017 the corporation could not maintain the same position. Due to decrease in flight frequency because of numerous reasons, NAC got second position whereas Jet Airways, an Indian private airline operator topped the list. Now, NAC is expecting a positive business growth from addition of new aircraft to regain the top position.
