The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal ( CAAN ) has issued type certificate to Chinese-made MA60 aircraft, allowing the plane to enter the Nepali skies for the first time for civilian transport. Although the CAAN is yet to confirm the development, senior officials at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation said the authority informed the ministry about the issuance of the certificate on Tuesday evening. According to CAAN sources, it will soon call a press meet to inform about the development. As per the Civil Aviation Rules 2002, the Director General of the CAAN upon receiving the application shall provide aircraft type certificate to the applicant after making necessary inquiry. The issuance of the certificate has opened the doors for ailing Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) to procure the 58-seater turboprop planes manufactured by Xi’an Aircraft International Corporation. The CAAN move comes after the Type Certification Board submitted its report to CAAN Director General Ratish Chandra Lal Suman in mid-September, recommending that the MA60 (Modern Ark 60) aircraft’s technical and other capabilities compliances “are reliable”. The board, led by former CAAN deputy director general Shambu Adhikari, had submitted the report after a two-week China visit. The board members, who were asked to verify the design and manufacturing standards of the jet, reported that the MA60 is designed in line with the specifications of the Chinese Civil Aviation Regulations 25 (CCAR-25) of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, and is compatible to the US Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Part 25. Some analysts, however, have raised questions over the plane’s airworthyness as it has not yet been certified by the FAA. A type certificate is issued to signify the airworthiness of an aircraft’s manufacturing design. The certificate is issued by a regulating body and it reflects a determination made by the regulating body that the aircraft is manufactured according to an approved design, and that the design ensures compliance with airworthiness requirements. China has pledged providing a 19-seater Harbin Y-12e and a 58-seater MA60 turboprop in grant and the government plans to buy four more aircraft — three Harbin Y-12e and an MA60 — taking soft loans from the China EXIM Bank. The government has planned to borrow $35 million in soft loans from the China EXIM Bank to procure the four aircraft for NAC’s fleet expansion. CAAN officials said the Harbin Y-12 twin-engine turboprop utility aircraft, designed and produced in China’s Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation, has been certified by the FAA. The much-delayed project had been in limbo since November last year after NAC signed a commercial agreement with AVIC International Holdings, a Chinese government undertaking, to procure six aircraft on November 29, 2012. An understanding was reached, under which China would provide two aircraft in grant within two months of the signing of the loan agreement, and the rest after five months of the first delivery. The Nepali side has proposed a 30-year payback period for the loans. On August 6, an EXIM bank delegation visited Nepal to review the status of the project. But the visit did not yield any outcome as the technical study of the plan was not completed. Subsequently, CAAN officials pledged to decide on issuing the type-certificate for the aircraft by October. In November 2011, the ministry requested China to provide the aircraft either under grant or soft loans. The Chinese side responded positively, expressing their readiness to provide some aircraft under grant and some under soft loans.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 05:27:24 +0000
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