-KATHMANDU
Viking Twin Otter DHC 6-400, MSN-846 series aircraft bought by Tara Air landed yesterday evening at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). The DHC 6-400 series aircraft is a twin-engine turboprop STOL aircraft manufactured by Viking Air at Canada.
According to the Airline Officials, the aircraft had departed from Seychelles Airport, on 13 of July at 06:25 PM Local Time and was en-route to Kathmandu from Seychelles via Maldives and India, as desired air route. Tara Air expects to put its additional STOL turboprop aircraft into commercial operation as soon as possible within a month.
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 was ferried under the Command of Nepalese Flight Crews Captain Pawan Singh Nagarkoti and Captain Prabhakar Ghinire and for Technical assistance Mr. Jagat Lama from Engineering including Mr. Bidhan Shrestha Airworthiness Inspector from CAA Nepal were jointly in the team for receiving the additional aircraft.
The Series 400 Twin Otters is 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.
