According to the Airbus safety check-list, the fuel filter of the aircraft needs to be changed after 100 hours of flight operation or in 30 days, whichever comes first.
However, the management of the national flag carrier has failed to order the fuel filter on time, because of which its Airbus, which has a catalogue price of 49.54 million US dollars, has had to be grounded.
The Airbus, dubbed ‘Sagarmatha’, started commercial operations from February 27 after its arrival here on February 8. It has been just 11 days since it started commercial operations.
The airline operates only four flights a week with the Airbus -- on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays -- to New Delhi.
As it is already 30 days since the arrival of the aircraft, the fuel filter needs to be changed. “There is no technical problem with the aircraft. The fuel filter has to be changed after 100 hours of flight operation or in 30 days, whichever comes earlier. But as we did not have an extra fuel filter, we have cancelled flights for safety reasons,” said Ram Hari Sharma, spokesperson of the airline.
A senior official at NAC requesting anonymity said that it is due to carelessness by the engineering department that the fuel filter was not ordered in time. “The airbus instructor pilot asked to order the fuel filter 15 days ago. But as KB Thapa, director of the engineering department, is in France undergoing Airbus-related training and his deputy Rajesh Shrestha did not want to take up the position of officiating director, the fuel filter could not be ordered in time,” said the official.
Airbus is providing free training to the airline’s engineers and pilots as part of the purchase deal.
The fuel filter was, in the event, ordered a week ago from the United States. But as Tribhuvan International Airport was closed due to the Turkish Airlines accident, it could not be dispatched here on time.
Sharma said the fuel filter will now arrive via Hong Kong at midnight Tuesday and the scheduled flight to Delhi on Wednesday will not be affected. “We have kept the engineers on stand-by so that they can change the fuel filter as soon as it arrives,” he added.
On Monday, regular flights to Delhi scheduled for morning were operated later in the day and an additional night flight with 110 passengers was cancelled. The passengers were provided accommodation and board.
Other flights by the airline’s Boeings also remain affected as one of the Boeings - call sign 9N-ACB - has been sent to Singapore for C-check. It will take a month for that aircraft to resume operations.
The national airline currently operates two ageing Boeing 757s, two Twin Otters, one MA 60, one Harbin Y12E, and the Airbus.
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