Kathmandu, Jan. 16:
Buddha Air is
conducting two-way flight operations to the Indian city Kolkata from April 15
this year.
"We are operating
3-flights per week between Kathmandu and Kolkata from April 15 with ATR – 72
aircraft. We are going to test the new international destinations with this
flight," said Birendra Bahadur Basnet, Managing Director of the company.
Flying with the ATR-71
aircraft will minimise the cost and save the company from higher losses.
According to Basnet,
new aviation market for Nepali airlines companies has not been explored since
long while the international companies always target the easy and available
markets.
So, the flight
operations to and fro Kolkata has been planned to test the feasibility of the
international market for Nepali private sector airlines and its success will
open avenues for similar operations to other cities in the South Asia, he said.
"Success of
Kolkata flights will establish the ATR model in the international flight
operations. However, Buddha Air will begin international flights with
jet-liners to other metropolises in the South Asia from August 2020," said
the chairman.
The Kathmandu-Kolkata
flight will be conducted on Monday, Wednesday and Friday every week. The total
flight time is 1 hour 45 minutes.
The company has started
the service with an aim to attract Bengali tourists to Nepal.
"Most of the
Indians go to European countries like Switzerland and Italy to see Himalayas
while the immediate neighbour is not known for its magnificent Himalayas. We
need to run tourism campaigns in the major Indian cities," said Basnet.
He also said that a
large number of Indian tourists can be attracted to various religious sites
like Pashupatinath, Muktinath, Janaki Temple, Lumbini and Manakamana.
Buddha Air is operating
international flights to Varanasi of India currently.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 17 January 2019. 
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