Shree Airlines 2 new Dash 8 aircraft landing Kathmandu by Monday

One of the leading domestic air carrier Shree Airlines has succeeded to add two more planes to its fleet as part of its service expansion. The two additional ‘Dash 8’ series Turboprop aircrafts with Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) registration ‘9N-AOK’ and ‘9N-AOL’ are expected to land their home at Tribhuvan International Airport by midnight on Monday.

N442QX and N444QX now registered as ‘9N-AOK’ and ‘9N-AOL’ are currently making ferry flight to Kathmadu from Portland Airport, USA and now making a stop at Goose Bay, Canada. The aircraft is being flown under command of Capt. Ritesh Karn and Capt. Biraj Rajbansi. The aircrafts will depart Goose Bay Airport (CYYR) in a couple of hours and make few fuel stops before touching down in Nepal. The next stop will be at Keflavík International Airport in Iceland.

The two aircraft that obtained registration of ‘9N-AOK’ and ‘9N-AOL are the aircrafts with ATR Manufacturer Serial No. MSN. 4532 and MSN. 4355 respectively. Both the aircraft belonged to Horizon Air in USA. Horizon Air is an American regional airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, United States. The airline is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Alaska Air Group and it is paid by fellow group member Alaska Airlines to staff, operate and maintain aircraft used on flights that are scheduled, marketed and sold by Alaska Airlines. 

‘9N-AOK’ and ‘9N-AOL’ were delivered by Manufacturer to Horizon Air, Alaska Airlines on June 2011 and aArch 2011 respectively. Therefore, both the aircraft are in the verse of completing 13 years of service this year.

Shree Airlines has two CRJ-200, two CRJ-700, and four Q-400 Turboprop aircraft. Two CRJs and one Turboprop aircraft have been grounded for technical reasons. With the addition of 2 more aircraft Shree will be operating altogether 10 fixed wing aircrafts. However, CAAN has observed deficiencies in Shree Airlines’ Aircraft Maintenance procedure and performance.

The CAAN’s spokesperson Jagnnath Niroula stated, “The company has been suspended from conducting structural maintenance of aircraft, as observed in our study. Now they cannot carry out maintenance related to Aircraft Structure. Another company needs to be assigned the responsibility.” CAAN had directed the testing of all aircraft within one hour after technical issues were reported in the company’s aircraft on Tuesday.