Kathmandu, November 29

Three companies have expressed interest to purchase Nepal Airlines Corporation’s Boeing aircraft.

According to NAC, two companies from America and one company from Poland have submitted proposals to buy its retired Boeing 757- 200, 9N-ACB.

As per NAC, CSDS Aircraft Sales and Leasing Inc and MK Aviation from America, as well as Avion Express from Poland have submitted bid proposals for ‘Karnali’ — the name given to its Boeing. As the airworthiness certificate of Boeing 757- 200, 9N-ACB is valid only till February 2020, NAC is in a rush to sell the aircraft as soon as possible.

After failing to receive any proposal even after publishing the auction notice twice, the national flag carrier had decided to slash the minimum bid price of the aircraft.

On November 12, NAC had published a notice of ‘Direct Negotiation’ for auction of ‘Karnali’ with a November 27 deadline and offered a steep discount.

While the corporation had earlier set Rs 875 million, excluding taxes, as the minimum bid for the 32-year-old aircraft, the notice for direct negotiation had slashed the minimum bid price by Rs 390 million to Rs 485 million.

NAC had first published an auction notice in June with a 45-day deadline.

Although a few firms had submitted proposals, bids had been disqualified as they did not meet set criteria.

Thereafter, NAC had again published a notice in August with a 15-day deadline.

But it failed to receive a single proposal then.

Karnali, which was purchased in 1987, has the capacity to carry 190 passengers.

It has been grounded since December 2018 and is parked outside NAC’s hangar at Tribhuvan International Airport.