Buddha Air, a private sector airline, plans to expand its air network to neighboring Nepal, New Delhi, Dehradun and other Nepali destinations.
Buddha Air is preparing to fly directly to New Delhi from Pokhara (Kaski), a major tourist destination in the country. Buddha Air Information Officer Dipendra Kumar Karna informed that preparations are being made to fly to Delhi from Pokhara International Airport under construction.
According to him, Buddha Air is also planning to fly from Pokhara to Dehradun, India. Two daily flights will be operated from Pokhara to Delhi. The flight to the destination takes one hour and 30 minutes.
The company has stated that it will fly to Delhi using the ATR 72 aircraft previously used for international flights to Vanaras and Kolkata, India.
Buddha Air is also the company with the most ATR aircraft for domestic flights. The same ships have been operating international flights to nearby destinations. It is believed that Indian tourists will increase when they fly to Delhi from Pokhara.
Entrepreneurs understand that this destination is a very potential destination in terms of business as it can be reached directly to the tourist destination.
‘Pokhara is a major tourist destination. As Pokhara is the first choice of tourists, the nearest destination will be New Delhi, so the service is being expanded, ‘said Information Officer Karna.
The company has stated that the necessary process has been taken forward as per the plan to fly directly to New Delhi from Pokhara Regional International Airport if it operates soon. Karna, the company’s information officer, said that work is underway to operate direct flights to the destination by completing the process in both Nepal and India.
He said, “We are applying for the flight from Pokhara to Delhi. We will operate the flight with the permission of the Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation Authority, and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of India to fulfill the ‘official procedure’.”
Buddha Air, which has the largest market share in domestic flights, now operates more than 150 daily flights. The company has stated that around 8,500 passengers are being served daily through these flights. Buddha Air has 11 ATR-72s, three ATR-42s, and 16 aircraft with two craft. Four more ships are in the process of arriving and the ships will arrive in Nepal within an interval of about four months, the company said.
Flight to Vanaras from the first week of May
Buddha Air is preparing to fly back to the Kathmandu-Vanarasi destination. The company has stated that the process of flying to Benaras has been completed. India’s famous pilgrimage site Vanaras is also considered a potential destination.
The process of the ‘Vanarasi flight’ has been completed, only the ‘confirmation letter’ is left to come. We will operate the flight from May 1st, ”said Karna, information officer at Buddha Air.
The flight was delayed due to the high risk of covid infection at the destination. From the point of view of religious tourism, the Vanarasi of India is considered an important destination. Buddha was flying from Kathmandu to Vanaras with the aim of promoting religious tourism.
Buddha Air has played an important role in providing quality service in domestic flights through ATR ships as well as in tourism development. Buddha Air made its maiden flight on October 11, 1997. It introduced the brand new ship Beechcraft 1900D from the United States at the beginning of the flight.
Flight by making Pokhara a hub
Buddha Air plans to make Pokhara Airport a hub connecting all accessible destination cities. Accordingly, Buddha has now connected six cities from Pokhara. The company has stated that it is flying from Pokhara to Janakpur, Simara, Bharatpur, Bhairahawa, Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi.
Necessary preparations have been made to operate the Pokhara-Bhadrapur service soon. It is said that there will be some delay due to technical reasons even though the flight is scheduled to start on April 15.
Twenty airlines, including 11 domestic helicopter companies, are operating flights from Tribhuvan International Airport. Internationally, 23 airlines, including two Nepalis, have been flying.
