-KATHMANDU
The recently acquired ATR 72-212 ‘9N-AMU’ aircraft of Buddha Air from Air Calédonie is now has completed its phase of changing its livery to the airline official livery. The oldest domestic carrier of Nepal ‘Buddha Air’ had added the additional ATR 72-212A series aircraft on July 03, 2018. The aircraft landed at Tribhuvan International Airport under the command of Nepalese pilots with aircraft having the official livery of Air Calédonie.
The aircraft livery implantation work was accomplished on the Buddha Air’s state-of-the-art closed door hangar located at the Eastern Helipad of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). The added aircraft will come into operation by the second week of August of this year and will be used to enhance its operational capacity in currently scheduled destinations, stated source.
The aircraft was under command of Captain Pramod Thapa and Captain Rabi Shrestha. Teams including flight crews, Operational Manager, Operation staff, B1/B2 Licensed Engineer, Quality Assurance Staff, Airworthiness Staff and official from Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) were jointly in the team for receiving the additional aircraft. The aircraft has also been allocated with Nepalese registration ‘9N-AMU’ to carry its ferry flight.
The 10.8 Year ATR 72-212A ‘9N-AMU’ was previously operated by Air Calédonie and later was sold to Kingfisher Airlines in India. ATR aircraft are considered cost-effective, environment friendly and less noisy as compared to other aircraft. Compared with an equivalent jet aircraft on a 300Nm average trip, the ATR 72-500 boasts a 35% block fuel saving per passenger.
After the addition of the new ATR-72, the company will have altogether 11 aircraft in its fleet. After the arrival of new aircraft, it will be easy for us to conduct timely-flights and repair other aircraft when required without affecting passengers, noted airline officials.
