Himalaya Airlines (H9, Kathmandu) has received permission from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to lease one of its A320-200s to Oman's SalamAir (OV, Muscat), Aviation Nepal has reported.

The Nepalese carrier has been struggling to pay its bills and incurred a NPR190 million rupee (USD1.7 million) debt with the operator of Kathmandu. In late February, the airline repaid around INR10 million rupees (USD91,000) after the airport operator threatened it with immediate grounding.

Himalaya Airlines sees wet-leasing as a means to improve its cash flow while at the same time avoid incurring further debt at Kathmandu.

The airline initially planned to wet-lease two A320s to SalamAir but the CAAN only permitted it to lease one Airbus narrowbody.

According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Himalaya Airlines operates three A320-200s, of which one is currently grounded for maintenance, on an exclusively international network connecting Kathmandu with Doha Hamad International, Dammam, and Abu Dhabi International.

SalamAir's fleet consists of three A320-200s and one A320-200neo.