One day after two Irish companies issued public notice and announced that they have canceled their air lease agreements with Cosmic Air, the airline issued a Public notice on Monday and warned to take legal action against the two Irish companies.

In a public notices carried in major broadsheet dailies, Cosmic Air said, “We, the Cosmic Air have obtained an interim order from the Appellate Court Patan on 27 February 2006, in relation to the aircraft and have been operating the aircraft accordingly. We therefore are in conformity and in adherence to the law of the Kingdom of Nepal and the order of the court in respect to the operation of the aircraft.”

In separate public notices carried in the front pages of major broadsheet dailies on Sunday, the AerCap Ireland Limited and AerCo. Ltd– owners of Fokker 100 aircraft– said the Cosmic Air (Pvt.) Ltd. had no authority to possess and operate their two Fokker 100 jets (9N AHO and 9N-AHN respectively).

In their notice, the Irish companies said they had leased two Fokker 100 aircraft to the Cosmic Air on 18 January 2005 and 1 April 2005 respectively.

“The Cosmic Air Pvt. Ltd. had for some time been in default under the above mentioned Aircraft Operating Lease Agreement which resulted in us terminating the leasing of the aircraft (with effect from) 15 March 2006.”

They said they had already informed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) of the termination of leasing and had requested for the safety of the passengers and the aircraft to ground the said aircraft.

They warned that any operation of those aircraft “would be the flagrant violation of the aviation law of the country and thus unlawful.”

However Cosmic Air in its public notice said, “We are in full compliance with the Nepalese Civil Aviation Airworthiness requirements and all other relevant Aviation Laws, which are mandatory for operation of all aircrafts in Nepal.”

Stating that the act of publishing such notices in the newspapers by AerCap and AerCo Ltd. is misleading, defamatory, derogatory and against the business repute of the company, Cosmic Air said, “We will be initiating legal action against AerCap and AerCo Ltd. in appropriate legal authority of Law in Nepal.”

The Cosmic Air also requested all concerned not to be misled regarding the operation of the said aircraft by Cosmic Air.

In October 2004, the Cosmic Air had acquired its first 105-seater Fokker-100 jet in lease from AerCap Ireland Ltd. Later, the number rose to four. Cosmic Air was operating its flights along domestic routes as well as to Dhaka, Delhi, Benaras and Kolkata with its planes. nepalnews.com pb Apr 03 06