Buddha Air : Opened a new door for International Aviation Service.
Buddha Air Hangar, situated near East Helipad of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), has been regarded as World’s third best hangar among such similar hangars all over the world. With the capital of around 25 crore NRS (25 lakhs USD), Buddha Air Hangar has been carrying out maintenance of ATR aircraft (42 and 72 series) , Beechcraft aircraft and Helicopters. Several ATR aircraft operators of south and south-east asia are being attracted towards Buddha’s Hangar for maintenance of their aircraft.
Recently, Buddha Air signed an agreement with Novo Air of Bangladesh for the overall maintenance (line and base) of Novo Air’s ATR 72-500 aircraft. Currently, Novo Air operates three ERJ-145, three ATR 72-500 and aims to conduct commercial flights to Nepal and India soon. In addition, Novo Air has been preparing to add two new ATR 72-500 under its fleet soon. According to the agreement, Nova Air will also take the advantage of manpower and resources of Buddha Air for which Buddha’s 2-2 Captains and First Officers will depart to Bangladesh in every 3-3 months. This is the first time for a domestic airline of Nepal to receive official contract of overall maintenance of foreign airlines aircraft. It has opened a new door for Nepal in international aviation service.
No any airline operator regarded as self-dependent until and unless it has maintenance and technical backup. Therefore, from the establishment year, Buddha air has been focusing on engineering backup.
One brand new ATR aircraft costs around 2 crore USD. Therefore, for 5-6 years it does not need maintenance. Some reputed Airliners such as Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways etc operate such ATR aircraft for 5-6 years and as soon as aircraft depreciation becomes zero, aircraft is sold. Countries like Nepal buy such second hand aircraft in lower price so regular maintenance is essential. Therefore, every airlines operator must focus on timely line and base maintenance of his or her aircraft for standard and safe aviation.
Currently, Buddha Air Hangar comprises of several spare parts of aircraft that cost more than 1.5 crore USD. According to the base maintenance manager of Buddha Air , Mr. ShardaBhakta Rajbhandari, after every 200 hours of flight of beechcraft and 500 hours of flight of ATR, A check needs to be conducted. Whereas, after every 2000 flight hours, C-check needs to be carried out.
