SANGAM

Buddha Air's new ATR 72 arrives

SANGAM PRASAIN
KATHMANDU, JUNE 20

Buddha Air has brought in an ATR 72-500 aircraft in a move to expand its services.

The new plane arrived at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Sunday flying from Abu Dhabi to Kathmandu via Ahmedabad.

The ATR 72 is a twin-turboprop built by French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR and seats up to 70 passengers in a single-class configuration.

Buddha Air purchased the aircraft for US$ 7.75 million with payment to be made in instalments spread over three years.

“This aircraft features the lowest seat-mile cost in its class and has great efficiency and reliability and is technically sound,” said Birendra Bahadur Basnet, managing director of the airline.

The new ATR 72 will initially operate on the Kathmandu-Biratnagar sector while the older ATR 24s in its fleet will be reassigned to the Bharatpur, Dhangadhi and Pokhara routes.

Basnet said that the fare for the Biratnagar-Kathmandu flight was expected to go down considerably after the aircraft comes into operation due to its low operating cost.

Buddha Air has recently spread its wings to Paro, Bhutan. The airline was scheduled to launch flights to different cities in India from June, however, the plan has been postponed until September due to technical problems.

The airline had planned to link Kathmandu with Patna, Lucknow and Kolkata using ATR 72 and ATR 42 aircraft. “All these flights will operate at the same time,” Basnet said.

As per the air service agreement (ASA) signed between Nepal and India, Nepali airlines are allowed to operate flights to 26 destinations in India. Buddha Air plans to operate flights to most of these destinations depending on market viability.

Buddha Air owns a fleet of five 18-seater Beechcraft 1900D and three 47-seater ATR 42 and serves nine destinations across the country.