The Nepal Airlines Corporation(NAC) wide body aircraft purchase controversy has been hugely criticized for its entire process and obligation. The fact from the Airbus website clearly showing Nepal Airlines receiving the Airbus A330-200 aircraft on behalf of HiFly Airlines of Portugal clearly shows the foul play. Apart from that two aircraft have been bought for Nrs 24 billion where as per international rates, one aircraft cost around Nrs 24 billion.
This also showcases the strategic level of organized corruption in leadership level to bureaucratic of the Nepal government. It has been estimated that around 25 percent of the funds are in view of corruption.
The first of the two Airbus A330-200 aircraft was delivered to NAC on June 28 and the second plane on July 26. The national flag carrier had purchased the aircraft from US-based AAR Corporation for around Rs 24 billion. NAC had taken a loan of Rs 12 billion each from Citizen Investment Trust and Employees Provident Fund at 10.5 per cent interest rate to buy the planes.