The 5 condemned planes are parked on the distant parking bay of Nepal airport. (Representational)

Kathmandu:

State-owned Nepal Airlines has decided to promote Chinese planes and spare components, that are suffering from breakdowns and an absence of pilots.

Right after they arrived, the three 17-seater and two 56-seater plane had was “the most expensive white elephants in the carrier’s history, The Kathmandu Post reported citing officials.

The five condemned planes are parked at the remote parking bay on the eastern side of Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, the report said.

The Nepali daily said state-owned airlines have been eager to get rid of the non-flying planes, but bureaucratic hassles forced it to hold on to them even as losses mounted.

Back in September, Nepal Airlines put the Chinese planes up for lease with October 31 deadline for bidders. After there were no bids, the deadline was extended until November 16.

Nepal Airlines spokesperson Archana Khadka said they didn’t get a single bid during the extended time either. “Now the administration has determined to promote them off.”

Ms Khadka said they would issue a notice to appoint an international assessor to determine a fair market value of the planes, after Sunday’s general elections.

“It might take two to a few weeks to nominate the assessor. Based on the assessor’s report, we’ll float a world tender to promote the planes,” Ms Khadka was quoted as saying by The Kathmandu Post.

She added that it would take at least two months to complete the process.

After the signing of the agreement in 2012 under the grant and concessional loan aid with the Chinese side, Nepal received the first batch of planes in 2014.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)