Buddha Air, the leading private airliner of Nepal, marking its 2oth anniversary has come up with a venture of grand planning to add Airbus A320 in its fleet to continue international flight sector from Nepal soon in the future.
As aviation in Nepal is blooming, this enterprise of Buddha Air confirms the aviation of Nepal to step into next level of future endeavors. It has been reported that the company recently surveyed the market and feasibility of Airbus aircraft in its fleet with Airbus representatives and concluded to add three Airbus A320 series aircraft in its future fleet.
The international operations of the jet aircraft can be expected to commence after the initialization of Pokhara Regional International Airport according to the Managing Director for Buddha Air Mr. Birendra Bahadur Basnet. Next 10 years, Buddha Air will be operating as many as 20 aircraft of Airbus 320 series, Mr. Basnet added.
The company also has decided to add 2 more ATR 72 series aircraft in its present operation. The first ATR is anticipated to arrive by 2nd week of January and the next by June 2018. The airline presently operates 2 aircraft of Beechcraft 1900D series, 3 ATR 42 and 4 ATR 72 making a total of 9 aircraft for regional and international operations.
Post the addition of two ATR 72 , one will be used for scheduled flights whereas the other will be standby to cope up with the delay problems the airline is extensively suffering due to traffic congestion. Buddha Air in present condition is criticized of producing some delay flights compared to other private airlines of the country. Speaking on the issue, the media officer of the company said, “We are not only having the delay problems as the country’s only international airport is heavily suffered by the congested air traffic. Buddha Air may have delays due to increasing flight frequencies which is considerable. At present situation, the company assigns only 3 to 4 flights for an aircraft per day.” After the addition of two more ATR 72s, our flight operation will enhance, he added.
