Nepal Airlines Adds Two Chinese Crafts to Domestic Fleet

Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has brought two new aircrafts in order to increase its share in the domestic flight market. The aircraft landed in Kathmandu at 2 pm on Feb 13^th, 2018.

Why it matters:

• The Corporation says the new airplanes will be flown to mountainous districts in particular.
• The addition of these two aircrafts will make the total of the national flag carrier’s domestic fleet to nine.

Backstory:

Around five years ago, the Corporation had signed an agreement with the Chinese government to buy eight aircraft.
Four of them have already arrived in Kathmandu.

What they are saying:

• “The Corporation is adding new planes without any preparation,” a Corporation official says, “Under present circumstances, these new aircraft will remain grounded at the airport.”
• However, stakeholders think that the aircrafts might cost NAC too much to maintain and along with that, it has low productivity.
• The Corporation has reported frequent problems in the operation of two of the airplanes they are currently flying. Skilled pilots and matching equipments are also scarce for these aircraft.

Go Deeper:

• Read about the details of the initial agreement and the plans to get the aircrafts.