NAC grounds Boeing

Himalayan News Service

KATHMANDU; The national flag-carrier has grounded one of its Boeing 757s reducing international flights by half at a time when Nepal Tourism Year 2011 is only two months away.

This is the second time since August that Nepal Airlines Corporation has grounded its aircraft.

On January 14, the ambitious NTY 2011 — aiming to attract one million tourists — will kick off. But just when NAC needs to add to its fleet, it has had to ground one of its two aircraft. Something that certainly doesn’t bode well for tourist arrivals.

NAC has been forced to reduce its international flights by half due to a crack in two of the 70 Outlet Guide Vanes in the engine of the 9N-ACB aircraft. The crack was discovered during regular check-up.

“The aircraft has been grounded since Saturday,” said a highly placed NAC source. This has forced NAC to cut down on lucrative destinations.

NAC makes one flight everyday on the New Delhi route. It also flies thrice a week on the Bangkok and Hong Kong routes, and four times on the Dubai-Doha route, with both aircraft. “Though we will decide how many international flights to reduce tomorrow, we have not flown on the New Delhi route for two days,” the source said, adding, the flights on the Bangkok, Hong Kong and Dubai-Doha routes had already been reduced to half.

“We are in touch with the Boeing company and the engine-maker Rolls Royce to fix the problem,” he added.

“We will not suspend flights to New Delhi, though we are planning to reduce them,” the source said. Although NAC desperately needs a new aircraft, all aircraft purchase deals have been controversial. NAC had decided to buy a wide-bodied and a narrow-bodied aircraft from European manufacturer Airbus. It had planned to purchase a A330-200 — a wide-bodied aircraft with a seat capacity of 279 — and a narrow-bodied A320-200 with seating capacity of 150.

But the government’s anti-corruption watchdog has put the NAC’s long-cherished dream of adding a new aircraft to its fleet of two age-old Boeings on the back burner.