-KATHMANDU
Tara Air, the sister airline company of Yeti Airlines has signed a multi-aircraft purchase agreement with Air Seychelles for one Viking Twin Otter DHC6-400-MSN 846 series aircraft.
The airline had already filed ferry flight permission to CAA Nepal and had just commenced its ferry flight yesterday to Kathmandu from Seychelles via Maldives and India. The CAA Nepal after the detailed inspections and proving flight of the aircraft had issued Certificate of Airworthiness (CofA) and had allocated ‘9N-ALO’ as the registration for the aircraft. The aircraft will be ferried under the Command of Nepalese Flight Crews including the official from CAA Nepal.
The Series 400 Twin Otters will be delivered in regional commuter configuration and will be added to Tara Air’s existing fleet of Series 400 and legacy Twin Otter aircraft as part of their expansion plan to offer the widest passenger connectivity to the STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) remote rural regions and will help facilitate Nepal’s target of 2 million tourists in the year 2020 with the motto “Helping Develop Rural Nepal.”
The short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft boast cutting-edge avionics technology with an integrated full glass cockpit that features the enhanced ground proximity warning system, traffic collision avoidance system and full colour weather radar.
The company said that the additional aircraft will serve remote STOL airfields such as Lukla, Phaplu, Jomsom, Dolpa and Simikot, among others. The additional aircraft would play a vital role in transporting foreign trekkers, local people and food to remote regions, the company added.
Tara Air intends to gradually replace its entire fleet with the Viking series aircraft. Established in 1998, Tara Air, the flagship of Yeti Airlines, has got the identity as biggest airline service provider in the Nepalese mountains. The company landed in aviation with the mission of helping develop the rural Nepal, and has concentrated service in the hills and mountains of the country from the Far East to the Far West and currently operates a fleet of STOL aircrafts, comprising of Twin Otter (DHC 6-300/6-400) and Dornier (DO 228) aircrafts.
