Earlier, the national flag carrier had plans to buy 13 planes by 2019

Kathmandu, September 24

After receiving criticism from all quarters for not finalising the destinations before purchasing wide-body aircraft, Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has said it will change its existing five- and 10-year aircraft purchase and expansion plan to not only enhance its operations but also to make its presence felt in the global arena.

Earlier, NAC had planned to buy 13 more large aircraft within the next five years.

“NAC has been criticised a lot for purchasing wide-body aircraft before finalising the destinations. Now we must learn from that experience and revise the existing aircraft purchase plan,” said Madan Kharel, executive chairman of NAC.

Kharel further said that the NAC board will hold discussions on every subject matter regarding aircraft purchase. “During my first tenure we had formulated a 10-year plan for NAC in 2015 but after I resigned the plan was put on the backburner,” he said, adding that the plan will be revived with more contextual policies added for a better output.

The NAC executive committee meeting on July 31, which was chaired by Sugat Ratna Kansakar, managing director of NAC, had decided to expand the international fleet of the national flag carrier by acquiring five more wide-body aircraft and eight narrow-body planes.

Among the narrow-body planes, the NAC board had decided to purchase two 72-seater ATR aircraft for trunk routes and six Twin Otter planes for remote routes. At that time NAC had said it will initiate the process to buy these 13 planes by 2019. Based on the current market price, it will cost NAC around Rs 70 billion to purchase the 13 aircraft.

“We first have to look at our financial capacity and then only decide to buy planes. To purchase those aircraft we need to raise our paid-up capital from existing Rs 160 million to Rs 20 billion,” said Kharel.

He further mentioned that the government has planned to celebrate ‘Visit Nepal 2020’ to bring in two million foreign tourists by 2020. “So NAC’s new plan will be more focused on that objective and to expand its international destinations,” added Kharel.

At present, nearly 90 per cent of international tourists are catered by foreign airlines. “The national flag carrier could play an effective role in further boosting Nepal’s tourism sector by offering flights at competitive, quality and affordable prices,” he reiterated. “NAC has plans to fly to Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Australia, China and other major tourist destinations to help government make the ‘Visit Nepal 2020’ initiative successful.”

In the domestic sector, NAC plans to expand its fleet to 20 planes by the next five years. The five-year plan includes purchasing four more 72-seater ATR planes for trunk routes. At present NAC is conducting domestic flights with six China-made and two Canadian Twin Otter planes.

Recently, NAC bought two 274-seater Airbus A330-200 wide-body aircraft. At present, NAC is providing its services to international passengers through one Boeing 757, two Airbus 320-200 narrow-body and one new wide-body aircraft.