KATHMANDU: Buddha Air’s 47-seater ATR-42 aircraft embarked on its maiden flight on Kathmandu-Lucknow-Kathmandu route today.
Birendra Bahadur Basnet, managing director of the Buddha Air, told mediapersons that it would fly to Lucknow on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He added that the three flights a week would help ease the passenger pressure, as Lucknow has good connectivity to other Indian cities. The fare ranges from Rs 5,600 to Rs 10,400 for class A, B, C and Y class.
Lucknow is the second international flight of Buddha Air after Paro, Bhutan.
According to the latest figures, air traffic between India and Nepal is growing at 13-14 per cent a year. The data reveals that Indian tourist arrivals increased by 19.5 per cent in December.
Earlier, Buddha Air was planning to start Pokhara-Lucknow flight but due to technical reasons the plan did not materialise, Basnet added. The airlines, with assets worth $30 million, has got permission from the Indian authorities to operate flights to four cities — Lucknow, Kolkata, Varanasi and Patna. By March, it plans to fly to Kolkata. In due course, it also plans to fly to Guwahati, Gorakhpur and Dehradun as well. Buddha Air is also planning to fly on Pokhara-New Delhi-Pokhara route as part of its cross-border commercial scheduled operation.
National flag carrier Nepal Airlines operates flights to New Delhi but is unable to continue due to lack of aircraft, as it has only two age-old Boeing 757s, that mostly face maintenance problems.
Budget airline Cosmic Air, which started flights to Delhi and Kolkata and triggered a price war in 2005, has been grounded due to fund crunch.
One of the largest private airliners in the country, Buddha Air owns a fleet of five just off the factory Beechcraft 1900D and three ATR 42–320 (Avions de Transport Régional or Aerei da Trasporto Regionale). It recently added one 70-seat ATR 72-500, known to be the best aircraft with turbo-prop engines |
