Buddha Air unveils hangar, signs deal for ATR 72 aircraft

KATHMANDU, April 18: Buddha Air, a leading private sector airlines on Wednesday brought its own hangar into operation at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). The hanger, which was set up at a cost of $ 2.5 million, is the largest in the country.



The airlines also signed a purchase agreement with Franco-Italian aircraft maker ATR for the procurement of a new 72-seater ATR72 500 series aircraft.[break]



Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Lokendra Bista Magar, Chief Executive of ATR Filippo Bagnato, General Manager of Pratt &Whitney, Canada Aaron Tang, IFC Country Manager Kyle Kelhofer, French Ambassador to Nepal Gilles Henry Garaut and Chairman of Buddha Air Surendra Bahadur Basnet jointly inaugurated the hangar on Wednesday.



The closed door hangar has a capacity to accommodate an Airbus 320 or a Boeing 737 on its 15,500 square feet ground floor. The total area of the hangar is almost 37,000 square feet.







Birendra Bahadur Basnet, Managing Director of Bhuddha Air said the hangar featured workshop facilities for a range of services like nozzle cleaning lab and wheel/brake workshop with adequate special tools and equipment. "For safe and smooth operation of our fleet, we have aircraft spares inventory worth $ 9.3 million in the international standard storage facilities," added he.



Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has also recognized the need for a hanger for the maintenance of other aircrafts including national and international airlines.



After the operation of the hangar, 60 percent of the total workforce of the airlines will work from there as ground handling division, security division, human resource division and general service division offices are located on first and second floor of the hangar.



The operator leased land in TIA for which it will have to pay Rs 6.5 million to Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) on annual basis.



The airlines also signed purchase agreement with ATR for a new 72-seater ATR72 500 series aircraft for around $8 million. The airlines is procuring the aircraft under lease purchase and they will come into operation by the second week of September.



Executive Manager of the airlines, Rupesh Joshi also unveiled the airlines´ plan to add three new aircraft to operate in rural sector. "We will start operation in rural area by 2014 after the procurement of aircraft suitable for those area," added he.



Buddha Air which came into operation in 1997 and presently operates flights to more than 15 domestic and international destinations.

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