KATHMANDU, Dec 25: An American aircraft providing company has proposed to the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) to provide two brand-new wide-body aircraft at Rs 11.31 billion each.

AAR Corporation, an American aviation support company, has proposed to provide the aircraft at the rate to the national flag carrier.

“After evaluating proposals of 10 companies, we concluded that AAR Corporation had offered the cheapest rate,” said NAC Managing Director Sugat Ratna Kansakar, “The company stated that the rate was the existing market rate.”  

10 international companies on November 10 had proposed to NAC to provide two-wide body aircraft of A330-200 series with a seating capacity of 250-280 passengers. The companies ranged from aircraft rentals to engine manufacturers.

The national flag carrier had invited a global tender on September 26.

The NAC management had formed an 11-member committee led by Deputy MD R.B. Shah to evaluate the technical and financial proposals minutely.

The committee had submitted its report to MD Kansakar on December 17.

“I will present the evaluation report to the board this week. We are happy with the proposal of providing two brand-new aircraft. Thus, I believe that the board will approve the proposal immediately.”

NAC is working to bring in the first wide-body jet by September 2017. The second jet is expected to join the fleet after six months. The NAC plans to operate inaugural flight of the wide-body aircraft to either Tokyo or Seoul.

NAC plans to buy Airbus 330-200 jets which can fly non-stop for up to 10 hours. The national flag carrier plans to operate the aircraft on long-haul routes.

The national flag carrier has the experience of flying to long-haul routes. Decades ago, it used to operate scheduled flights to London, Paris, Frankfurt, Osaka and Shanghai.

 
• nepal airlines corporation
 
• wide-body aircraft