NAC, Airbus sign purchase agreement to buy two Airbus

The ailing national flag-carrier is expected to get new aircraft after 26 years as today Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) and Airbus signed a purchase agreement.
According to the agreement, the corporation will buy two narrow body aircraft from the European aircraft manufacturer that will deliver the aircrafts within 2015.
“Each of these aircraft bears a catalogue price tag of $75 million,” according to the NAC has already paid an advance of $500,000 to Airbus.
According to the agreement, the corporation will have to pay 30 per cent of the cost in the first phase and the remaining after the delivery of the aircraft.
The NAC has already signed a loan agreement of Rs 10 billion with Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to finance the aircraft purchase.
NAC general manager Madan Kharel and corporate director Ganesh Bahadur Chand signed the purchase agreement with Airbus senior sales director Sheel Shukla and Airbus sales contracts director Rob Gordon signed the agreement on behalf of their respective institutions.
The board of the corporation had decided to sign purchase agreement after the corporation entered into the loan agreement of Rs 10 billion with Employment Provident Fund last week.
The purchase agreement is expected to give the ailing corporation a new lease of life as its two age old Boeings have already been almost non-functional and grounded frequently.

 “The agreement has been signed after a five-year-long effort,” Chand said, adding that the NAC had signed a preliminary purchase agreement with Airbus in April to purchase two A320-200 aircraft.
The narrow body aircraft with a capacity of 150 seats will be expanded to 164 seats. The European aircraft manufacturer Airbus will deliver the first aircraft within February 2015 and the other one in March.
Earlier, the NAC, then RNAC had bought two Boeings – for international flights – in 1977 and 1978.