Kathmandu, September 1

The state-owned Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) today said that it has received two bids for its Boeing 757 aircraft.

While one bidder has not mentioned its name in the bid document, the other is an Israel-based firm named ABN, as per NAC.

“As one of the bidders has not mentioned its name, the bid document of the firm will be invalid. We will soon take necessary decision on the bids of these two companies,” said Sulesh Mishra, joint spokesperson for the corporation.

The national flag carrier had called a tender notice for auction of the Boeing aircraft named ‘Karnali’ on June 26 setting a 45-day time limitation for proposal submission. However, NAC is struggling to receive any proposals from any airline company or individual person. After it did not receive even a single proposal, the national flag carrier published a second notice for the auction 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.

Once the second Boeing is also auctioned, NAC will have a fleet comprising 13 aircraft, of which two are MA 60, four Y12E, two Airbus A320-200 narrow-body and two Airbus A330-200 wide-body and three Twin Otters. Meanwhile, NAC is also planning to bring six new Twin Otter aircraft and replace the existing three Twin Otter planes.