The narrow body aircraft of the Nepalese national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines Corporation has been ‘grounded’ for a total of 130 days in the current financial year only decreasing the market share in the international sector to mere 14 percent and losing credibility among the passengers.
Out of the 205 days in the current year, Nepal Airlines Corporation’s narrowbody Airbus A320’9N-AKX Lumbini’ aircraft has been grounded 130 times. Yet, the company is unsure of how long the aircraft will remain grounded.
The corporation earns a daily income of Rs 1 crore and 15 lakhs from each narrow body. This amount is the data published by the corporation itself. Based on this data, the corporation has lost one and a half billion rupees in income from 9N-AKX alone.
Although the aircraft is not in flight, NAC is spending 2,000 US dollars per day for the rental engine used in the “grounded” aircraft. Since the aircraft was grounded for 69 days from November 30 to today, it has lost more than 180 million rupees in rent alone.
Let’s revisit the time in this year when the aircraft was grounded:
The corporation’s narrow body aircraft ‘9N-AKX A320 Lumbini’ was initially grounded on 16th of July (31st Asar 2080). Grounded on July 16, the aircraft flew regular flights from September 28.
At that time, the aircraft was ‘grounded’ for 61 days. The aircraft was brought into flight by hiring a rental engine.
The aircraft was again grounded at Tribhuvan International Airport on November 30. It has been 69 days since the aircraft was grounded until January 23rd (Tuesday).
The aircraft has been grounded for 130 days in the current financial year, with 61 earlier and 69 now after which it was finally flown to Israel for maintenance. According to NAC sources, the aircraft will remain in Israel for another two weeks.
The engine took 143 days to repair when it should have taken no more than 90 days.
The corporation has entered into an agreement with Israel’s IAI Company for engine maintenance. The engine, which was sent to Israel for repair on September 17, has not yet been repaired. Engine maintenance is 45 days to maximum 90 days. However, it has been 143 days since Monday, when the engine was sent for repair.
At the same time, the credibility of the corporation is decreasing. The market share of the corporation has decreased from 25 percent to 14 percent.
