KATHMANDU, JULY 21
Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), which had been unable to pay its instalment for the last three years, finally paid Rs 1.35 in instalment to Citizen Investment Trust (CIT) and Employees Provident Fund (EPF) last Thursday.
According to Archana Khadka, spokesperson for NAC, the national flag carrier was able to pay the instalment following the improvement in its business with global decline in COVID cases.
"The easing of COVID-related restrictions and increase in business made it possible to pay the instalment," Khadka told The Himalayan times.
She informed that the NAC paid Rs 900 million to EPF and Rs 450 million to CIT as instalments for loans taken earlier for purchase of the aircraft.
Out of the instalment paid to EPF, the corporation paid Rs 450 million in instalment for loan taken for purchase of a narrow body aircraft and another Rs 450 million for a wide body aircraft. The instalment of Rs 450 million paid to CIT was for the loan taken for the purchase of widebody aircraft.
Khadka said that the NAC had taken a loan of Rs 10 billion from EPF for the purchase of two Airbus A320, and Rs 12 billion each from EPF and CIT to buy two widebody A33O.
After paying its instalment in December of 2019, the corporation had been unable to pay its creditors due to the coronavirus pandemic-related travel restrictions that affected its business.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 22, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
