Yeti to bring its first ATR 72-500 by last week of June
24 May 2017-Kathmandu
Yeti, sister company of Tara, has been working to bring its first ATR 72-500 to Kathmandu by last week of June this year. According to Mr. Bhim Raj Rai, Spokesperson of Yeti, the airline is all set to land its first ATR aircraft. He also mentioned us that Yeti has also planned to bring its second ATR 72-500 aircraft by end of July.
Talking about the age of the aircraft Mr. Rai noted us that the aircraft are 7 years and 10 years in age and are both being bought from Nordic Aviation Capital of Denmark. The registration and documentation of the aircraft at CAAN is currently in process and will be completed by next month, he added.
Yeti tends to on board maximum number of passengers in trunk route i.e. Biratnagar, Nepalgunj and Bhadrapur with the arrival of ATR aircraft. Currently, Yeti is conducting flight operation to trunk routes with seven BAe Jetstream 41 aircraft but will add two ATR 72-500 in the routes connecting Kathmandu with Biratnagar, Nepalgunj and Bhadrapur after the arrival of the aircraft.
The tremendous increase in the number of passengers in domestic air market has encouraged Yeti to add ATR 72-500 to its fleet reported Mr. Bhim Raj Rai. He also added that the entire aviation industry is currently adopting advanced aircraft for domestic operation in Nepal so; Yeti too had to take a step towards advancement to satisfy the passengers with comfort and compete for the domestic aviation market in Nepal.
The airlines will operate the ATR aircraft from the Kathmandu-based station and have decided to train its previous set of operation staff for ATR operation rather than recruiting new. So the airlines have been training their pilots and engineer staff in France. Mr. Bhim also reported us that first set of the team has already completed their training and second will complete theirs by next month.
So, is the Nepali aviation industry heading towards the advancement? At one side airlines operators are competing to add additional fleet to its operation and on the other, the air traffic at the major airport including TIA seem packed with the rapid flow of aircraft. Hope the addition of the maximum number of aircraft will lead and compel the airport and civil aviation authorities to broaden the sky and airport facility.
