KATHMANDU: Nepal Airlines is preparing to purchase five aircraft for domestic flights.

According to officials involved in the planning and discussion, it has been concluded that five aircraft should be procured for the time being.

At least two large ships are needed to fly on the trunk route and three ships are required to fly to the remote areas, sources have said.

After Nepal Airlines decided not to fly the planes brought from China, currently only three planes are left for domestic flights. Airlines officials have been saying that they are too old to fly commercially.

Despite the technical opinion that five aircraft should be procured, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has been saying that the aircraft flying in remote areas should be procured immediately and the ships flying on trunk routes should be procured in the second phase.

During a discussion at the Ministry, Minister Yogesh Bhattarai instructed the officials of Nepal Airlines to immediately plan to procure aircraft for flying in remote areas.

A preliminary report has been prepared stating that the airlines, which have three twin-engine aircraft that can fly in remote areas, need to buy at least the same capacity aircraft to compete with other airlines and 72-seat aircraft on the trunk route.

It is estimated that it will cost at least Rs 9 billion to buy all these ships.

Nepal Airlines does not have the capacity to buy its own aircraft. It requires loan. However, the NAC cannot buy an aricraft without a guarantee from the Government of Nepal.