Bonded warehouse to be set up for aircraft spares

Kathmandu February 24- The supplier of the problem-plagued Chinese aircraft in Nepal Airlines Corporation’s fleet (NAC) has agreed to set up a bonded warehouse to make spare parts easily available in Nepal, according to a government fact-finding committee report.

The government had formed a high-level panel to resolve issues seen in the Y12E, and MA60 aircraft after NAC found them to be financially unviable due to their poor performance. The committee submitted its final report to the Tourism Ministry on Monday.

The leader of the panel Tourism Joint Secretary Suresh Acharya said that AVIC International Holding Corporation, the supplier of the Chinese planes, had agreed to establish a bonded warehouse besides slashing pilot training charges.The long time taken to obtain spare parts from China has meant expensive downtime for NAC.

The committee has also asked the supplier to make a price list of the spare parts following NAC’s complaint that it was being overcharged. Likewise, the supplier has agreed to cut pilot training costs. The company will train Nepali pilots for a fee of $19,000, down from the $80,000 set earlier for a combined training package.