Kathmandu, December 29

The government is preparing to replace Madan Kharel, executive chairman of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), citing that the work progress of NAC has been unsatisfactory.

Prior to this, Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai had also said that the leadership at NAC might get changed if current leadership does not take immediate steps to strengthen the national flag carrier.

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) has often stated that it is not so satisfied with the work progress of the national flag carrier. Amidst this, the board meeting held on Friday has sought a five-point clarification from Kharel.

After Kharel briefed Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli that he was not able to perform as per his plan due to lack of cooperation at the board, the board has asked Kharel to clarify his statement. The board meeting has asked Kharel to provide details of when and how he didn’t receive support from the board.

“Provide the details regarding which agenda of NAC did not get support from the board, what works have been halted due to the board and if any meeting has been affected in the absence of any board member,” reads the direction of the board.

Likewise, the board has also asked Kharel to clarify why he took a decision to operate flights to Osaka while the government had already completed all the procedures to operate flights to Narita (both cities are located in Japan) and who is going to take responsibility of losses incurred by the Osaka flight operation.

Furthermore, the board has also sought clarification on why the NAC’s operation department did not submit any work plan to operate the Y12E and MA60 aircraft even after receiving a direction from the board to do so on June 14. The directive has further mentioned that the aforementioned aircraft had failed to generate any profit and sought clarification on why such a loss-making venture was being ignored and no work plan was drafted.

Similarly, the board has also asked Kharel to provide operation details of the Airbus 320 and Airbus 330 series aircraft that was sought by the board on August 21. Kharel has also been directed to furnish the details regarding the spare parts of Airbus 320 aircraft.