The Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation has issued a seven-day ultimatum to Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) Chairman Yubaraj Adhikari, demanding an explanation regarding the decision to send both of the corporation’s wide-body aircraft for C-checks simultaneously, resulting in a service disruption.
Tourism Minister Badri Prasad Pandey requested the clarification following a ministerial decision, citing concerns over the service interruption caused by sending both aircraft for maintenance at the same time. The ministry raised concerns about repeated negligence and poor performance levels within the corporation, questioning the NAC leadership’s ability to maintain Nepal’s presence in the aviation sector while ensuring safety, dignity, competitiveness, and profitability.
The government has pointed out that the corporation’s reputation has suffered due to what it describes as Chairman Adhikari’s negligence, incompetence, and weaknesses. As part of the clarification request, the ministry has posed 11 specific questions, demanding objective reasons, causes, and evidence to support the decisions made.
Among the key issues raised, the ministry questioned why a company incapable of performing the C-checks was selected for the task. Additionally, the ministry held Adhikari responsible for the financial losses incurred by NAC due to the grounding of the aircraft during peak tourist seasons and festive periods. The ministry also inquired about the decision to send technicians with visas close to expiration, only to have them recalled and replaced, further exacerbating the corporation’s losses.
Other issues highlighted in the ministry’s inquiry include the failure to arrange timely aircraft inspections, the financial losses caused by grounding the planes during critical periods, penalties paid to various countries due to delayed flights, and the loss of approximately NPR 20 million resulting from a cyberattack last year. The ministry emphasized that the Dubai station staff failed to verify bank account details and instead processed payments based on fraudulent email instructions from hackers, leading to significant financial damage to NAC.
