Nepalese Simrik Airlines and U.S.-based Sapphire Global Airways have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a dedicated, international long-haul cargo airline in Nepal.
\nThe agreement marks the establishment of Nepal\u2019s first such cargo operation, said Rahul Puranik of Sapphire Global. \u201cWe plan to operate in Southeast Asia in the first phase with two Boeing 777s,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cin the second phase, expansion will be made to European countries.\u201d
\nThe new carrier, tentatively named \u201cSimrik International Cargo Airlines\/Sapphire Global Airlines,\u201d will cater to the increasing demand for cargo transportation in the country, which is struggling to right its economy after last year\u2019s devastating earthquake, which left at least 8,000 people dead and hit the country\u2019s vital tourism sector especially hard. Cargo held up at the Nepal-India border has also hurt businesses.
\nThe new carrier will make Kathmandu\u2019s Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) its cargo hub. The airport, Nepal\u2019s largest, is already a growing destination for air cargo. According to figures issued by TIA, cargo movement in 2015 was up 23.6 percent to 24,513 tonnes per year. More than half of this figure was imports, at 14,611 annual tonnes. Export cargo for the year totaled 9,902 tonnes.
\nWhile the new venture has some lofty goals, considering that Sapphire Global itself is a startup airline that has yet to launch, Puranik said that there were extensive opportunities for air cargo business in landlocked countries like Nepal. Given the country\u2019s mountainous terrain \u2013 much of it lies in the Himalayas \u2013 and poorly maintained roads, air transport is a vital economic link.
\nSapphire Global Airways will hold a 70 percent stake in the joint venture, valued at US$150 million. According to Kathmandu Post, the airline is expected to be operational within a year.
\nSimrik Airlines currently operates Beech 1900Ds and Do228s on regular passenger flights within the country, often to small, hard-to-reach outposts, such as Jomsom, far up in the mountains. The airline, and other small operations like it derive a significant part of their revenue shuttling tourists between Nepal and the country\u2019s major tourist destinations. Given the small passenger twin-turboprops that the airline uses, ramping up operations to the use of 777 freighter jets on much longer hauls will necessitate significant resources and scaling up of operations, making this an especially ambitious undertaking.
\nBelow, one of Simrik’s\u00a0Dornier 228 twin-turboprop planes lands at the high-altitude Jomsom airport:
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\nSource: aircargoworld<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nepalese Simrik Airlines and U.S.-based Sapphire Global Airways have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a dedicated, international long-haul cargo airline in Nepal. The agreement marks the establishment of Nepal\u2019s first such cargo operation, said Rahul Puranik of Sapphire Global. \u201cWe plan to operate in Southeast Asia in the first phase with two[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-1666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-airport-code"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actlogistics.vn\/kr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actlogistics.vn\/kr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actlogistics.vn\/kr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actlogistics.vn\/kr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actlogistics.vn\/kr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.actlogistics.vn\/kr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actlogistics.vn\/kr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actlogistics.vn\/kr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actlogistics.vn\/kr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}