The Board of Directors (BoD) of state-run Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has proposed the government to sell its shares to private parties under the public-private-partnership in a bid to strengthen the national flag carrier.

The BoD has forwarded the proposal to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation approval. The Ministry will then forward the proposal to the Cabinet for final approval.

The NAC also decided to conduct valuation of the properties and liabilities of the national flag carrier to pave the way for PPP.

“The NAC will continue to enjoy the status of national flag carrier even after its privatization as per the concept of PPP,” a board director at NAC said.

The government had decided to develop NAC as per the PPP concept in last year’s budget.

The director also asked the Ministry to immediately initiate efforts to materialize the concept of PPP if it wanted to save NAC.

Various taskforces constituted to recommend measures for strengthening the NAC had recommended the government to include strong international airlines as its strategic partner and float it shares accordingly.

NAC that celebrated its golden jubilee anniversary on July 1, this year, is operating just one Boeing for international operation. Its another Boeing, which returned about a fortnight ago from Brunei, is yet to start scheduled operation.