Buddha Air Pvt. Ltd is an airline based in Lalitpur, Nepal. It operates domestic flights within Nepal as well as international services to Varanasi, India, from its main base in Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu. It was the largest domestic carrier in terms of passengers carried in 2023.

History

The airline was established on 23 April 1996 as a private limited company by Surendra Bahadur Basnet, a retired Supreme Court judge and former government minister; and his son, Birendra Bahadur Basnet. The name of the airline is derived from the Sanskrit word Buddha, a title used for the much revered Siddhartha Gautama. Operations commenced on 11 October 1997 with a sightseeing flight to Mount Everest using a brand new Beechcraft 1900D. In 2001, the airline partnered with the Bhutanese flag carrier Drukair to charter flights during the peak tourist season. Within ten years, the company had expanded to a fleet of seven 1900Ds. In 2008, a loan from the International Finance Corporation allowed the company to expand further by purchasing two ATR 42 aircraft. Buddha Air took delivery of its first 72-seat ATR 72 in June 2010.

International operations

Buddha Air became the first international airline to operate charter flights to Paro Airport in Bhutan in August 2010. In 2011, Buddha Air began international flights from Pokhara Airport to Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow, India; however, these flights were discontinued soon after. The airline also announced plans to fly to New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport in the future. Current international operations are limited to seasonal flights to Varanasi.

Destinations

Buddha Air flies to the following destinations as of August 2024. Buddha Air also operates scheduled mountain sightseeing flights from Kathmandu to Mount Everest range and from Pokhara to the Annapurna Massif. The flights usually depart in the early morning hours and return to the respective airports one hour later.

Fleet

Current fleet

Buddha Air's fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of August 2024). The airline plans to add three Airbus A320 aircraft.

Former fleet

Hangar

Buddha Air is the first airline in Nepal, and one of few in South Asia, to have a closed-door hangar facility. Built at a cost of US$2.5 million at the Tribhuvan International Airport, Buddha Air also provides aircraft maintenance facilities to other airlines, including the Bangladeshi airline Novoair which sends its ATR aircraft for maintenance at the hangar. Buddha Air is constructing a hangar that will be able to accommodate aircraft up to the size of an Airbus A319 at Pokhara International Airport.

Accidents and incidents

Trivia

In 2015, Buddha Air became the shirt sponsor of Biratnagar based football club Morang XI, who played in Nepal's highest football league, the Nepal National League.