Nepal Airlines (RA, Kathmandu) has begun the process of selling all five of its Chinese-made turboprops - two MA-60s and three Y12Es - after they received no expressions of interest for their lease.
The Nepalese flag carrier issued a Request for Proposals for the full appraisal of the quintet. The only requirement for the bidders is that they hold a valid ISTAT certification. Bids are due by December 20, 2022.
According to tender documents seen by ch-aviation, the aircraft details are as follows:
- MA-60 9N-AKQ (msn 1007), manufactured in December 2013, has accumulated 2996.3 flight hours and 3316 cycles,
- MA-60 9N-AKR (msn 1008), manufactured in November 2016, has 3079.1 hours and 3415 cycles,
- Y12E 9N-AKS (msn 26), manufactured in June 2014, has 1346.2 hours and 2333 cycles,
- Y12E 9N-AKT (msn 27), manufactured in March 2015, has 641.1 hours and 1424 cycles, and
- Y12E 9N-AKV (msn 29), manufactured in September 2015, has 1027.3 hours and 1386 cycles.
All five are outfitted with airworthy engines and propellers.
Nepal Airlines attempted to lease the aircraft twice, in September and November 2022, but found no bidders, the Setipati online news reported. The carrier was planning to sell the aircraft were the lease-out to fail.
All five aircraft were retired in June 2020 due to their high operational costs and poor reliability, as well as a limited number of type-rated pilots. They were contracted in an intergovernmental deal in 2012, wherein the Chinese state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) provided one unit of each type as a gift. The other four aircraft, including a third, undelivered Y12E, were financed via a soft loan from EXIM Bank of China. Following the retirement of the aircraft in 2020, Nepal Airlines launched a tender to replace them with Western-made aircraft. This course of action was halted after a change of management in late 2021, but subsequently restored after another reshuffle in early 2022.
