Nepal Airlines will sell 5 Chinese aircraft grounded at Tribhuvan International Airport for three years. For that purpose, Nepal Airlines has called for a tender for the full evaluation of the aircraft on Tuesday.
According to Archana Khadka, spokesperson of the Corporation, the price of these aircraft will be decided after a complete evaluation. After that, she said selling these aircraft would start by inviting a global tender. “We initially planned to lease it out,” she said, “since no one was interested in it, we started preparing for the option of selling the aircraft.”
The Corporation has grounded these aircraft since July 30, 2020. The Corporation issued a tender on Tuesday to evaluate the aircraft in the same condition as it is. The Corporation had a total of 6 aircraft. One was damaged in an accident at Nepalgunj Airport three years ago. The Corporation has prepared to determine the price of the other five aircraft (two MA 60 and 3 Y12E).
The Corporation entrusted the management of these aircraft to the government as they could not operate them. However, after the government ignored it, the Corporation prepared to lease the aircraft and issued a tender. None of the parties were interested in that either.
Then, on Tuesday, the Corporation issued a tender for fully evaluating these aircraft. The Corporation has asked for proposals from firms and companies willing to fully evaluate these aircraft within the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading standards. Nepal Airlines has given such a proposal within 15 days.
After the full evaluation of the aircraft, it will be easy for the Corporation to determine the price of these aircraft. After that, the Corporation opens the way for the sale of aircraft. Nepal Airlines and the government have only suffered losses from these aircraft that started being imported from China.
The country has lost more than 8 billion rupees only because of the Chinese aircraft brought in to serve the people of remote areas of hills and mountains by bringing small aircraft. Since 2014/2015, the Corporation has suffered an average annual loss of 38 million rupees from the operation of 6 aircraft, including four purchased for 4.5 billion rupees and two with subsidies. The Corporation decided not to fly that year.
The Corporation recommended the government take charge of these aircraft, concluding that these aircraft could not be flown at a profit under any circumstances and that incurring more losses would be a suicidal decision. However, the government did not show any interest in managing these aircraft.
