The engine of the Nepal Airlines Corporation’s 9N-AKX aircraft, which malfunctioned in June 2023, underwent maintenance on April 28, 2024. The corporation incurred a loss of more than 3 billion rupees due to the downtime of the engine during maintenance.
There have also been financial irregularities observed during the maintenance of the same engine. The engine, which malfunctioned in June 2023, was sent to Israel only for maintenance until September 28, 2023, which in actual took a very longer time to be fixed.
The Executive Chairman of the Corporation, Yuvaraj Adhikari, had entrusted a single company with the responsibility of engine maintenance and leasing for the ‘A320’ aircraft for financial gain.
Adhikari had assigned the ‘Israel Aerospace Industries’ (IAI) a five-year contract for engine maintenance and leasing of the ‘A320’ Airbus. Prior to selecting the company, Adhikari had also undertaken a one-week trip to Thailand.
Upon returning from Thailand, he immediately finalized the selection of the maintenance and leasing company. When the same company incurred losses for the first time due to engine maintenance issues, the Corporation had lost four billion rupees in revenue. Not only did the Corporation suffer financially, but evidence of corruption during engine maintenance has also been reported.
