Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) on Thursday received second Chinese-made 56-seater MA60 aircraft as part of a six-aircraft deal between Nepal and China. 

Bearing Nepali registration number 9N-AKR, the aircraft landed at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) at 7:00pm.

With the induction of the new plane, the national flag carrier now has five aircraft—two MA60, two Twin Otter and an Y12e—in its domestic fleet. The aircraft was flown by Captain Gopal Singh Bista from Kunming, China, to Kathmandu via Dhaka, Bangladesh. 

The delivery of the aircraft had been stalled after issues appeared in the first batch of planes that arrived in 2014. In November 2013, the Cabinet gave the go-ahead to the government to sign loan and grant agreements with China to procure six aircraft to enhance the domestic fleet of the national flag carrier. 

China has provided one MA60 and one Y12e worth Rs2.94 billion as gifts. The other aircraft are being bought with a soft loan of Rs3.72 billion provided by China’s EXIM Bank.