The government has given the go-ahead to the country’s largest helicopter operator Shree Airlines to begin fixed-wing operations. The Tourism Ministry on Tuesday approved the carrier's proposal to induct two 50-seater Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ-200) and two 100-seater Embraer (ERJ-190) aircraft into its fleet. 

Shree is likely to launch commercial operations with CRJ-200 aircraft by the end of December. It said it would be spending Rs2 billion on its expansion project that is expected to shake up the domestic aviation sector which seems to have quietened down of late.

“After receiving the ministry’s green signal, we submitted the necessary paperwork to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal to obtain a No Objection Letter," said Anil Manandhar, corporate manager of Shree Airlines. The carrier will receive its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) only after the planes arrive as per the AOC Requirement. 

Shree Airlines needs to complete five procedures to obtain the AOC under the new rules — pre-application, formal application, document evaluation, inspection and demonstration and certification. 

“We have speeded up our documentation work and we are optimistic that the procedures will be completed within two months,” said Manandhar. “We have targeted taking to the air within three months from now. In the first phase, we will be operating two CRJ-200 aircraft and inducting a third one subsequently,” he added. 

Shree Airlines will become the second Nepali carrier to fly Bombardier aircraft after Saurya Airlines.

Shree plans to boost its jet fleet strength by adding two 100-seater Embraer ERJ aircraft in the second phase slated to start by mid-2017. These twin-engine regional jets produced by Brazilian aerospace company Embraer will be used for cross-border flights and connect the South Asian market. 

The carrier will be Embraer's first Nepali customer. “Another Embraer ERJ will be added to the fleet immediately,” said Manandhar. 

Currently, it has an international operation licence for its MI-17 helicopters only. He said that the process to start international operations would be started soon. 

According to ministry officials, Shree Airlines has been allotted six sectors — Bhadrapur, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa, Nepalgunj, Dhangadhi and mountain flight. 

Airline officials said the reduced travel time offered by jet aircraft would help them to attract travellers and break the duopoly of Buddha Air and Yeti Airlines on trunk routes. Currently, Buddha Air, Yeti Airlines, Simrik Airlines, Saurya Airlines and Nepal Airlines serve domestic trunk routes.  

Shree will be hiring at least 200 more personnel for its expansion project. It said that it decided to go into fixed-wing operations as part of its plan to diversify and tap into Nepal’s expanding air travel market. Started in 1999, it currently has six MI-17 and four Eurocopter AS350 B3e helicopters. 

Nepal’s domestic air passenger movement continued to shrink for four straight years, dropping 5.96 percent to 1.36 million passengers in 2015, as a series of disasters struck the country denting travel demand.