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Kathmandu,Tuesday January 25, 2000 Magh 11th, 2056.
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RA to lease Boeing 767
-By a Post Reporter
KATHMANDU, Jan 24 - Royal Nepal Airlines
(RNAC), the national flag carrier, has announced its intention to lease a wide-bodied
Boeing 767-300-ER jet for two years, just like it has done for the last several years.
A press statement issued yesterday by the
airline said that RNAC will lease the jet on AMI basis, meaning the aircraft and its
maintenance and insurance packages would all be supplied by the aircraft supplier itself.
It also said that RNAC’s own Nepali pilots would be flying the jet for the two years.
The latest RNAC announcement is in
keeping with the airline’s tradition of the past several years during which time it
has short-leased and long-leased several aircraft from various suppliers ranging from
Yugoslavia to Turkmenistan to China.
However, the intention to lease is in
sharp contrast to the airline management’s recent claim that it would lease-purchase
a Boeing B-767 soon. At the time, the impression was that the national carrier would drop
the tradition of leasing and go for buying the aircraft it needs.
Indeed, a meeting of RNAC Board of
Management on December 2 had decided to purchase the Boeing aircraft directly from the
manufacturer. Though the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation was notified of the
decision, sources say the Ministry has not responded on this regard so far.
Explaining the change in intention, the
RNAC press statement said that the B-767-300-ER it wanted to buy from Boeing would not be
available for nearly two years.
“In the course of our inquiry, it
was notified to us that Boeing could deliver a new B-767 only 21 months after we placed a
firm order,” the statement explained. For this reason, the press statement implied,
there was no other option but to go for dry-leasing another aircraft.
On the surface, the decision appears
prudent because the leased B-757 from China South West Airlines which RNAC has been
operating, is flying out in a couple of months after completing its lease period. RNAC
then would be left with only two B-757s, which it owns, to operate on its overextended
international routes.
But there is more to the announcement.
Before RNAC bosses decided to dry lease a new aircraft, they had inquired late last year
with Boeing whether a new aircraft would be available. Boeing replied that it would be,
since one of its B-767, which was under construction, was still without a buyer at the
time.
Reliable sources inside RNAC say, Boeing
asked RNAC to furnish it with a firm commitment to buy the aircraft before December 15,
1999. In the meantime, RNAC offered to pay US 111 million dollars for the brand new
aircraft.
Despite putting the ball on a roll, the
airline management failed to notify Boeing by December of its firm intention to buy the
aircraft. That was mainly due to the delay caused by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Sources say, Boeing found another buyer
for the aircraft soon thereafter. The aircraft was ultimately sold to the new buyer for
about US 80-85 million dollars, more than 25 million dollars less than what RNAC had
offered to pay, sources claim.
There is indication now that powerful
persons are gearing up to set up a front company registered in the Middle East to buy the
aircraft from Boeing after 21 months and lease-sell it to RNAC at an inflated price.
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