Leading private carrier Buddha Air is set to welcome its 12th ATR aircraft with call sign ‘9N-AMY’ and is set to arrive at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) today evening.
The ATR72-500 will land at Tribhuvan International Airport under the command of Captain Pramod Thapa and Captain Ananta Dongol along with Deputy Director technical Mangesh Thapa and other flight crews at around 5:30 to 6 pm.
The airline has already acquired the necessary permission from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal and the aircraft will be registered under call sign ‘9N-AMY’.
The aircraft costing Nrs. 1 billion will undergo livery implantation process and other documentation procedure after arriving to Nepal.
The airline is set to increase flights in international as well as domestic sector. The airline will be performing 3 daily flights to Nepalgunj from 24 March onward and 3 weekly flights to Kolkata from May end.
The airline had planned to conduct flight to Kolkata starting from Mid-April, however, due to Lok Sabha Election of India, it was postponed to be inaugurated on 27 May 2019.
The airline will conduct flights on the pre-scheduled routine which is 3 weekly Kolkata flight on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
The airline has already announced airfare rate of Rs. 24,000 for Kathmandu-Kolkata sector.
With the arrival of the aircraft, the airline will have 12 aircraft all together. The new aircraft will aid in expanding the flights to Kolkata as well as in domestic sector.
The airline is also set to increase flight frequency on Kathmandu- Nepalgunj sector from coming Sunday (24 March).
3 daily flights to Nepalgunj
The airline which is currently operating 2 daily flights will be operating 3 daily flights on Kathmandu-Nepalgunj-Kathmandu sector.
The airline will conduct flights from Kathmandu at 8:30 am, 12:40 pm and 5:15 pm and will arrive at Nepalgunj on 9:30 am, 1:40 pm and 6:15 pm respectively. The flight will depart at 9:55 am, 2:05 pm and 6:40 pm arriving at TIA at 10:55 am, 3:05 pm and 7:40 pm respectively.
The airline has also acquired permission to operate flights to New-Delhi from the airport however problems like slot management from Indian side, problems in air routes and inadequate infrastructure for international flights from the airport has hold the flights of the carrier.
Regarded as the busiest domestic airport in the western Nepal, Nepalgunj conducts flights to western and far-western region of the country are being carried out from the airport.
The airline also topped domestic flight in 2018 with highest number of flights being operated and service provided to passengers.
The airline holds around 52% of market share in domestic market and the addition of new aircraft is set to increase the market share.
The airline is working effectively to promote ‘Visit Nepal Year 2020’, and the addition of flight as well as flight sector is set to help the airlines in achieving its aim.
After successful flights to Calcutta, the airline will be operating flights to various South Asian major cities after around 1 and half year after initiating flight to Calcutta jet powered aircraft.
The airlines is providing services to Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa, Bharatpur, Simara, Janakpur, Biratnagar, Bhadrapur, Pokhara, Dhangadi and Tumlingtar from TIA along with Mountain Flights as well as flights to Indian city Varanasi. Buddha Air celebrated its completion of 21 years of service in Nepali Aviation Market last year with ATR company officials.
Established on 23 April 1996, with a fleet of a Beech-craft 1900D manufactured by Raytheon Aircraft (now Hawker Beech-craft), Buddha Air is the largest domestic airline operator of Nepal.
