2ND NAC AIRBUS BY APRIL END

KEDAR DAHAL

KATHMANDU, March 29:

The second Airbus A320 procured by the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) will arrive by the end of April. The national flag-carrier will start flights to two additional Indian destinations including Bangalore and Mumbai after the second Airbus arrives. The NAC has been conducting regular flights to New Delhi since February 27 after a gap of three years. Jet Airways, Air India, Indigo, Spice Jet and Druk Air of Bhutan have also been currently operating Delhi-Kathmandu flights.

The NAC will now have four planes including two Airbus A320 and two Boeing 757 for international flights, and it will operate 50 international flights to nine destinations every week. It will operate flights to Hong Kong, Doha, Bangkok, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and Guangzhou of China apart from the three Indian destinations.

NAC Spokesperson Ram Hari Sharma said that Airbus will hand over the plane by April 28. He revealed the NAC will operate 14 flights to Delhi, 3 to Mumbai, 3 to Bangalore, 3 to Hong Kong, 3 to Bangkok, 3 to Guangzhou, 7 to Doha and 7 to Kuala Lumpur every week. It has been currently operating four flights each to Dubai and Doha.

The NAC had borrowed Rs 10 billion from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), to procure Airbus planes. The new Airbus A320 will also have 158 seats like the one already arrived has. The Boeing 757s have 190 seats each.

Number of Flights per Week

Destination                         Number of Flights

Delhi                                     14

Bangalore                             3

Mumbai                                3

Doha                                      7

Hong Kong                          3

Bangkok                               3

Guangzhou                          3

Dubai                                    7

Kuala Lumpur                    7

Total                                      50