Responding to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that MoTCA signed with China based AVIC International to purchase five 19-seater Y-12 and three 56-seater MA 60 aircraft, the national flag carrier has further asked the MoTCA to provide it the aircraft for free should the northern neighbor provide them under grant assistance.[break]
In case the aircraft are to be procured and NAC is required to pay for them, it has demanded that the MoTCA charge the same interest rate that Chinese government will charge for the soft loans.
NAC Spokesperson Raju KC said the MoU does not mention anything about grant. "The decision of grant will be decided at the government level after purchase agreement is finalized," he added.
MoTCA had sent the MoU to NAC for review a couple of weeks ago.
The ministry had signed MoU with AVIC International last month for acquiring eight aircraft for the domestic sector. The cost of acquiring these aircraft is estimated at $110 million.
Although need for aircraft on international routes is more severe than domestic routes, no concrete initiatives have been taken so far in this direction.
NAC at present offers flights to different remote areas at subsidized rate that doesn´t even cover its operating cost.
KC said the NAC can´t initiate fresh process to acquire new aircraft for international airlines as there is no clear procurement process.
The national carrier´s deal with Airbus to procure two aircraft was cancelled after parliamentary Public Accounts Committee and Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority raised question on the transparency of the process.
“The deal was in line with NAC´s financial bylaws. Now we don´t know which process is to be followed to acquire new aircraft,” said KC.
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