Shree Airlines’ fleet grounded by Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority
The news comes after one of the carrier’s planes had to make an emergency landing. Nepalese domestic carrier Shree Airlines has had its fleet grounded by the country’s Civil Aviation Authority, pending engine safety checks on its aircraft.
The airline, which flies to seven destinations in Nepal according to data from ch-aviation.com, has therefore had to start canceling its flights while the inspections take place.
Shree Airlines currently flies a mixed fleet of four Bombardier CRJ regional jets and four 80-seat Dash 8-Q400 turboprops, with an average age of 14.8 years old. Despite these two aircraft families being rather different to one another, Nepalese newspaper Republica notes that the grounding applies not only to a specific aircraft type, but rather to the airline’s entire fleet.
The carrier currently has two CRJ200ERs as well as a CRJ700 and a CRJ700ER. However, of these four rear-engined jets, just one of the CRJ200ERs is currently active. Shree Airlines is also flying Mil Mi-17 and Eurocopter AS350 helicopters.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has stipulated that Shree Airlines’ planes will only be able to fly again once its technicians have conducted thorough security checks of their engines. With Nepal having been rocked by the crash of a Yeti Airlines ATR 72 earlier this year, aviation safety has become a hot topic.
The grounding of Shree Airlines’ entire fleet is beginning to have knock-on effects regarding the carrier’s scheduled operations. Indeed, as local publication Ratopati notes, Shree Airlines’ Corporate Manager Anil Manandhar is frustrated that, with three out of 14 flights having already been canceled today, its passengers are suffering as a result of what he sees as a lack of notice by the CAAN.
Yesterday’s incident
While the grounding order did come into place rather suddenly, it didn’t exactly come out of nowhere. Indeed, it followed an incident yesterday whereby a Shree Airlines Dash 8-Q400 diverted back to Kathmandu after an engine fire indication. According to Reuters, it was bound for Bhairahawa with 78 passengers and crew.
Speaking to Reuters, Manandhar explained that “the pilot reported an indication of fire in the right engine, and the plane was diverted to Kathmandu immediately.” CAAN spokesperson Jagannath Niroula confirmed that the plane made a safe and injury-free landing, adding that “there was no indication of any fire when it landed.”
Passengers impacted by the grounding look to have a reasonable number of alternative options to their canceled Shree Airlines flights. Using the aforementioned Kathmandu-Bhairahawa route as an example, this corridor is also served by Buddha Air, Guna Airlines, Saurya Airlines, and Yeti Airlines. Nonetheless, amid such heavy competition, Shree Airlines will be hoping to return to the skies promptly. simpleflying.com