Nepal Airlines (RA, Kathmandu) has concluded the sale of its only B757-200(C) to US-based CSDS Asset Management after over 18 months of dithering and COVID-caused bureaucratic hurdles.

The carrier told the Nepalese media that the final sale agreement is for USD5.4 million, marginally less than the tentative figure of USD5.7 million agreed in December 2019.

9N-ACB (msn 23863), a 33.2-year-old twinjet, was operated by Nepal Airlines since its delivery in 1988. As one of the few B757 combis ever built by Boeing (BOE, Washington National), it is capable of seating passengers and carrying two pallets of cargo. Eventually, it was retired in October 2018 after the airline acquired two A330-200s as its new-generation widebody aircraft. The jet remains parked at Kathmandu for the time being. Nepal Airlines tried to unsuccessfully sell it through public tenders before landing CSDS as a potential buyer in late 2019. The transaction took months to finalise mostly due to the pandemic and the suspension of international travel between the United States and Nepal, which delayed the necessary inspections and eventual contract signing by lawyers.

Nepal Airlines sold its only B757-200, 9N-ACA (msn 23850), to start-up BB Airways (BBW, Kathmandu) in 2017. However, as the new carrier never launched, it sold the aircraft for part-out in 2019.