Nepal Airlines Corporation fails to auction its Boeing 757 again

Kathmandu, September 2

Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has once again failed to auction its Boeing 757 aircraft after both the bids that the corporation had received for the aircraft’s auction turned invalid.

The national flag carrier disqualified both the bids as one bidder had not mentioned its name in the bid document, while the other had applied for the aircraft’s auction at a rate that was much lower than that determined by NAC.

This is the second time that NAC has failed to auction its 31-year old Boeing 757 aircraft. Earlier in June, the national flag carrier had called the first tender notice for auction of the Boeing aircraft named ‘Karnali’. However, NAC did not receive any proposal from any airline company or individual person, thereby forcing the corporation to call for a second tender notice for the auction of the aircraft on August 14.

NAC has set Rs 875 million, excluding taxes, as the minimum price for the 32-year-old aircraft. Karnali, which was purchased in 1987, has the capacity to carry 190 passengers. Prior to this, NAC had sold its first Boeing 757-200 — 9N-ACA aircraft — through auction to a Nepali airline company called BB Airways. The first Boeing had touched down in Kathmandu in 1972. With a capacity to carry 123 passengers, it connected Kathmandu with regional destinations and remained in service until 1993.

As NAC has failed to auction the aircraft twice, the fate of Boeing 757 is still undecided. Now, NAC has two options — either to call a third tender for aircraft’s auction or sell the aircraft at a reasonable price to any firm. “The NAC board will soon decide on which process to follow,” said Sulesh Mishra, joint spokesperson for the corporation.

Once the second Boeing is also auctioned, NAC will have a fleet comprising 13 aircraft.

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