A flight instructor from Airbus and an NAC pilot flew the aircraft named Lumbini from Hamburg in Germany which touched down at Tribhuwan International Airport on 6.30 am on Thursday.

A team comprising of NAC’s Quality Assurance and Flight Safety Director Rabin Pradhan, Engineering Director Karna Bahadur Thapa, engineer Pawan Kumar Karwal, Project Coordinator Prabhas Karmacharya and Chief of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal’s Airworthiness Division Bhesh Raj Subedi had gone to Germany on April 22 to bring the aircraft to Nepal.

Despite grand celebration planned for welcoming the Airbus, actual ceremony was low key as the country is in mourning following the Great Quake on Saturday.

The aircraft also carried four doctors, two nurses, two coordinators, two journalists, 3.3 tons of medical supplies along with other relief materials while arriving in Nepal.

On June 27, 2013, NAC had confirmed its order for two Airbus planes by signing an aircraft purchase agreement with the European planemaker. NAC’s aircraft procurement process had succeeded after a hiatus of five years.

An Airbus A320-200 had already arrived on February 8 as part of the deal.

On June 18, 2013, the carrier signed a Rs 10 billion loan agreement with the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) to buy the two aircrafts. NAC hopes to repay the loan in seven to eight years.