A narrow-body aircraft named 'Lumbini' was sent to Israel for engine replacement, but has not yet returned to Nepal. Another narrow-body aircraft named 'Sagarmatha' was grounded after returning to Kathmandu from Bangkok on Friday night.
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Hundreds of passengers have been affected by the cancellation of international flights after both narrow-body aircraft of Nepal Airlines Corporation were grounded.
Since Friday, 133 passengers who were supposed to go to Dubai and 111 passengers who were supposed to return to Nepal from there have been accommodated in hotels at the corporation's expense.
After the flight service of narrow-body aircraft was disrupted, the corporation had to cancel flights to Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Dubai in a hurry. In some cases, videos of passengers angry that flights were canceled after passengers were checked in and entered the sterile hall have surfaced on social media.
Incidents of abuse and assault on corporation employees have also been made public during the flight cancellation. An incident of some passengers assaulting the corporation's shift in-charge Vijay Adhikari in front of the airport police when a flight to China was canceled has been seen on social media.
Currently, two of the corporation's narrow-body aircraft are grounded due to technical problems. Although the narrow-body aircraft named 'Lumbini' was sent to Israel for engine replacement, it has not yet returned to Nepal. Another narrow-body aircraft named 'Sagarmatha' was grounded after returning to Kathmandu from Bangkok on Friday night.
NAC General Manager Amritman Shrestha said that efforts are being made to repair the aircraft and return it to regular flights. According to him, the necessary spare parts arrived in Kathmandu on Saturday evening, but the repairs were delayed due to procedural reasons related to customs and the army.
After the narrow-body aircraft was not put into operation, the NAC is forced to manage flights using both wide-body aircraft, which has created serious pressure on the wide-body aircraft. The total flight cycles of the engines of the NAC's wide-body aircraft are 6,000. Currently, only about 500 of the Alpha Lima Yankee wide-body and about 800 of the Alpha Lima Zulu wide-body remain.
In the next month, both wide-body aircraft will have to undergo a comprehensive overhaul. In such a situation, using wide-body aircraft for short-haul flights will end the flight cycle quickly, causing further financial losses to the NAC, said a director of the NAC.
