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No. 21 March 2011
w w w . b u d d h a a i r . c o m
World-class Hangar under construction
B
uddha Air is making another stride in its history. The airline has begun constructing a state-of-art hangar on the premises of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). It is the first time in the country’s history that a domestic private airline is building a closed-door hangar that will expand over 25,000 sq ft in the country’s only international airport. It is expected that the hangar will come into operation within six
months. The total construction cost of the hangar has been estimated to reach Rs 100 million. The Noida based SML Ltd has been awarded the construction work. The airline will pay Rs seven million annually to Nepal government for the land. In the past, the airline used the hangar of the Nepal Army (NA) during the times of necessity. Buddha Air has been conducting the maintenance work under the open sky. With the
construction of the hangar, the maintenance works will be done inside, which will enhance aircraft safety. This will also facilitate the repairs and maintenance of the planes. The operation and engineering department of the airlines will be shifted to the hangar premises and the spare parts will also be stored there. These things will lead to better coordination contd. on page 2
ha n g a r
among the various departments and help enhance flights safety. Perhaps the most positive side of the hangar is that it will enable the airline to do the maintenance works during night. The airline has been flying each plane only 330 days a year as the maintenance works are conducted during daytimes. With the construction of the hangar, the total utilization of each plane will go up to 345 days, leading to the maximum use of the airline’s fleet. This will, in turn, decrease the flying operating costs as well, and help the airline slash the airfares. It will also generate employment and help boost the economy. On top of that, maximum use of the airplanes will help bring in more tourists as the airline has already gone international. It may be recalled that Buddha Airline has already begun commercial flights to Paro of Bhutan and Lucknow of India, and plans to operate more
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flights to the major Indian cities in the near future. Buddha airline had been requesting the government for the last decade to let the airline construct a hangar of its own. But it took 10 years before the government permitted the airline to allocate
land due to red tape in Nepal’s bureaucracy. Buddha Air likes to thank the current government, especially minister for Civil Aviation Sarat Singh Bhandari, for helping the airline realize its plan. We appreciate Minister Bhandari’s efforts and his vision. w
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BUDDHA
Yatra
March-April '011
international flight
W
ith the beginning of New Year 2011, Buddha Air added another chapter in its history. On 7 January, 2011, the airline formally began commercial flights from Kathmandu to Indian northern city of Lucknow. Buddha Air held a press conference at Tribhuvan International Airport hours before its first commercial flight. Minister for Tourism and civil Aviation, Sarat Singh Bhandari and Managing Director of Buddha Air, Birendra Bahadur Basnet were present at the press meet. It was a historic moment in the relation between Nepal and India as the private airline of Nepal was linking Lucknow for the first time by air route to Kathmandu. The airline is starting with three weekly scheduled flights on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. During the press meet, Minister Bhandari congratulated Buddha Air for beginning flights to Lucknow and wished prosperity of the airline. He said Buddha Air would contribute to turn the Visit Nepal 2011 into a grand success. He appreciated the Buddha Air initiative as the national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines, has only one plane doing international flights. “We have made an agreement with India to allow private airlines to make short distance cross-border flights, but we have only a few private airlines to compete with
India counterparts as the Nepal Airlines has fallen into crisis. So Nepal government appreciates the initiative of Buddha Airline,� he said. On the occasion, Buddha Air Managing Director Basnet told journalists about the airline’s plan to expand its flights to various Indian cities as per the recent agreement between India and Nepal. He also stated that the new move of the airline will help bring in more tourists in Nepal as the country has declared 2011 as Visit Nepal year. He appreciated the roles played by Minister Bhandari to strike a deal with India allowing private airlines to operate short distance crossborder flights. It may be recalled that Buddha Air has already begun flights to Bhutan. Currently the airline is launching four commercial flights to Paro of Bhutan. Nepalese travel to Lucknow and Kanpur for personal as well as business purposes. Buddha Air is confident that more Nepalese will travel to Lucknow after beginning its operation -- not only for leisure and business purposes but also as transit to get connected to all over India by train and other transport means. People from Lucknow and the surrounding areas also travel to different parts of Nepal and to capital Kathmandu for many reasons. w
Buddha Air begins flight to
Lucknow
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March-April '011
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Corporate Social Responsibility
Buddha Air conscious about CSR A
s part of its corporate social responsibility, Buddha Air has already decided to hand over Rs 1.5 million to youths of Dangihat Village Development Committee in Morang. In January, the airline handed over Rs 500,000 to the youths as part of the second installment of the promised amount. Buddha Air Managing Director Birendra Bahadur Basnet handed over the amount to the youths amidst a press conference held at the airline headquarters in Jawalakhel. The third installment would be provided by Mayend. Buddha The unemployed and semiAir highly employed youths of the VDC appreciates have formed Dangihat the initiative Construction Committee and taken by the have successfully mobilized the youths, which has generated local youths for the development of the area. Buddha Air highly jobs at the local level. appreciates the initiative taken by the youths, which has generated jobs at the local level. Speaking at the function, the airline Managing Director Basnet stated that the way Buddha Air has donated money to the VDC may set an example for rural development if things go smoothly. As the largest part of the donated money for rural development are generally spent on administrative works, as is the case with NGOs, the initiative in Dangihat could be model on how local people should be mobilized for rural development. And donors might be attracted to this model. Buddha Air is
conscious that the money donated by the airline to the village should not make them dependent on others. According to the construction committee, the money was spent on setting up libraries and laboratories at local schools, and alo on construction works. w
Yatra Lucky Winners for Mountain Flight 1. Shiva Bahadur Shrestha 2. Kiran Rana Bhatt 3. Prakash Sayami
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BUDDHA
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March-April '011
r o y a l c l ub
Royal Club at Buddha What is Royal Club? After conducting a thorough research and preparing the groundwork, Buddha Air launched the Royal Club, the first-ever frequent flying program in Nepal, in 2002. Immediately after it was launched, the Club hit its target. The airline aimed to make 15,000 members in the year, but hit the target in just eight months. The club is totally free and any one can be its member. Our objective is to provide extra facilities to the passengers who make frequent travels through the Buddha Air.
How can I be a member?
Especially at many shops, department stores, restaurants, health-clubs, hotels and other outlets. For updated list, check our web site at www.buddhaair.com/ royalclub.
Who else can benefit? Your membership miles can also benefit your spouse and children. Once you accumulate enough miles, we can give free tickets and vouchers in the name of your spouse or child. Make sure you write their names in the membership form.
Miles and More
* Fill in a membership form (in full detail) available at any Buddha Air office. * Fill in a temporary card form and keep it until a permanent one is issued to you. * Present the membership form and temporary card at the check-in counter on your next Buddha Air flight. The form will be rejected if not filled completely. Start earning Frequent Flyer miles on every flight, start from your very first flight!
You will be awarded the frequent flyer miles (See Miles Chart) as per the distance you fly. Once you have accumulated enough frequent flyer miles, you can fly free to the given sectors. For example; if you fly from Kathmandu to Bhadrapur and back 5 times in a normal ticket, you will have gathered 2880 frequent flyer miles. You now have enough miles to fly FREE to Biratnagar, which is worth 2400 miles. You will then have 480 miles left in your frequent flyer account.
Note: If you have already submitted a membership form and already have a card (temporary or permanent), please do not fill the form again. Simply show your card at the check-in counter anytime you fly with Buddha Air.
Who can be a member? All Nepali citizens of above 12 years, residents, expatriates etc. can be members. Visiting tourists are not eligible to become members.
What are the Benefits of becoming a member? * The more you fly, the more mile points you earn. Once you gather enough miles, you may choose one among many benefits provided by Buddha Air. * You can fly free to any destinations (see Miles Chart) * Spend holidays in various resorts and hotels. * Receive Cash Vouchers and go on shopping. * You will also be accorded preferential services and extra baggage allowance (up to 5 Kg extra). Discounts at more than 100 outlets all over Nepal. BUDDHA
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March-April '011
Upgrade to Platinum card Gold card members will be eligible to upgrade to Royal Club PLATIUM, if they have earned a total of 7500 or more miles (redeemed + Unredeemed ).
Party Miles, partly Cash scheme The miles plus cash feature offer flexibility in payment by allowing members to redeem their preferred reward by paying part miles and part cash. If you have fifty percent of the mileage points required for a free ticket, just pay the balance percent ( of actual normal ticket price) in cash and you will have a valid ticket. Members can check their mileage status on our website: www.buddhaair.com/royalclub. To check status, members must enter their first three letter of first name (as it appears on the membership card) and their membership number in the boxes and then click log in. A display box will show the mileage accrued and mileage redeemed. w
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R o y a l
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Royal Club Mileage Chart
6
S.N.
SECTOR
1
GOLD
PLATINUM
AWARDS
NORMAL
APEX
B. FARE
NORMAL
APEX
B FARE
KTM-SIF
109
71
24
121
79
26
960
2
KTM-BHR
133
87
29
147
96
32
1160
3
KTM-JKR
161
105
35
177
116
39
1400
4
KTM-PKR
173
113
38
190
124
41
1500
5
KTM-BWA
230
150
50
253
165
55
2000
6
KTM-BIR
276
180
60
305
199
66
2400
7
KTM-BDP
288
188
63
316
206
69
2500
8
KTM-KEP
426
278
93
468
305
102
3700
9
KTM-MTN
460
300
100
506
330
110
4000
10
KTM-DHI
690
450
150
759
495
165
6000
BUDDHA
Yatra
March-April '011
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f l i g h t
sa f e t y
Factors Affecting Aircraft Accidents n Captain A.G. Sherpa
O
wing to advancement in science and technology, aircraft accidents are less likely to occur in recent times than 20 years ago. Nevertheless, the growing number of aircraft in operation and their increasing capacity are not helpful in minimizing onboard fatalities. On the other hand, aircraft accidents cannot be attributed to one single cause. Almost every mishap is the consequence of a chain of events, though an accident reports usually discriminate between the main cause and a number of contributing factors. The root cause of accidents is usually human error. Almost 70 percent of accidents occur due to human errors, 17 percent due to aircraft malfunctioning and 13 percent due to adverse weather. More than 50 percent accidents occur due to errors committed by flight crews.
Air The best Safety Device in any Aircraft is “Well trained Traffic Miscellaneous crew”. Control 6% While errors on the part of the flight crews mainly lead 4% to accidents, the majority of accidents are not only due to Maintenance a lack of their proficiency. Rather they are: 7% Failure in Human performance Decision making & leadership skills Deviation from standard operating procedures (SOP) Regulatory violations Weather Lack of CRM (crew resource management) training 13% Lack of situational awareness Aircraft Cumulative fatigue Crew cumulative fatigue Lack of Ground Navigation Facilities & Spatial Disorientation Aircraft 60% Failure in Implementing Flight Crew previous crash’s report’s 17% 53% recommendation: Over load: Aeronautical terrorism: Explosive Devices, Shoot down, Hijackings- September 28% 26% 11, 2001 attacks Dangerous Goods Carried 15% ExposureWorkload Time % Pilot's % 14% onboard: 12% 12% Pilot's Workload % % Exposure Time 10% 8% Lack of aircraft (type) 5% 4% 4% simulator training Improper Loading of Takeoff Climb Cruise Descent Approach Landing baggage & seat plan Up-to-date Aircraft Manuals, Approach charts, Area Maps, checklists: En-route & aerodrome Weather in which pilot error was the cause but brought about by Air Traffic Controllers’ error weather related phenomena. Maintenance error Pilot error (mechanical related)- represents accidents in crew coordination & compatibility which pilot error was the cause but brought about by some Inadequate training type of mechanical failure. Age Limits & Medical Factors, Pilot incapacitation Pilot’s Workload Vs Exposure Time per phase of Flightw Pilot error (weather related)- represents accidents
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BUDDHA
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March-April '011
a n n i v e r sa r y 2 0 1 0
List of Employees Completing 10 yrs. of Service-till Dec 10 pay-roll Division S.N. Name 1 Saroj Dutta Pandey
Designation Senior Officer
Appointment 03-Feb-00
Revenue Division/TIA Revenue S. No. Name Designation Appointment 1 Jayaram K.C. Junior Officer 15-Mar-00 Human Resource 1 Nimesh Ghimire Senior Officer 01-Feb-00 Engineering/Technical 1 Ashok Maharjan Senior Engineer 06-Feb-00 2 Karuna Poudyal Senior Engineer 13-Feb-00 3 Bikash Nanda Baidhya AME II 19-Jun-00 4 Diwakar Shrestha Charge Hand 02-Feb-00 5 Jitendra Karna Technical Officer 13-Feb-00 6 Megh Prasad Upadhyay Senior Technician 16-Aug-00 7 Harsha Narayan Bhagat Junior Technician 10-Nov-00 Engineering/Corporate 1 Deepak Giri Helper 03-Mar-00 2 Kapil Kumar Rai Helper 03-Mar-00 3 Shree Bahadur Thakuri Helper 03-Mar-00 4 Uddhav Kunwar Helper 28-Mar-00 Flight Operations 1 Subarna Kharel Manager 01-Feb-00 2 Umesh Khadka Senior Officer 03-Mar-00 3 Gobardhan Thapa Senior Officer 24-Apr-00 4 Sandip Rayamajhi Senior Officer 01-May-00 Reservations 1 Srijana Pradhan Junior Officer 06-Jan-00 TIA Marketing/Frontline 1 Bikash K.C Officer 09-Apr-00 2 Shambhavi Bastakoti Officer 01-May-00 3 Buddhi Prasad Sardar Office Assistant 27-Feb-00 TIA Marketing/Attendant 1 Prahlad Khadka I Loader 03-Mar-00 2 Pujan Mahara Loader 06-Mar-00 General Service 1 Shambhu Nath Chaudhary Junior Officer 15-Jun-00 2 Binod Raya Yadav Peon 08-May-00 Transport Section 1 Gopal Krishna Malla Driver 22-Mar-00 Pokhara Station 1 Bhubaneshwor Tripathi Junior Officer 22-Oct-00 2 Bhim Prasad Lamichhane Loader 01-Oct-00 Bhairahawa Station 1 Shyam Narayan Sardar Office Assistant 23-Feb-00 Janakpur station 1 Sukhdev Khawas Senior Loader 01-Mar-00 Simara station 1 Kirta Lal Rajbanshi Loader 17-Jan-00 2 Kaushal Bhandari Senior Officer 14-Apr-00
BUDDHA
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March-April '011
Years of Service 10.92
Glimpses of Anniversary SPORTS-2010
Years of Service 10.80 10.92 10.91 10.89 10.54 10.92 10.89 10.38 10.15 10.84 10.84 10.84 10.77 10.92 10.84 10.69 10.67 10.99 10.73 10.67 10.85 10.84 10.83 10.55 10.65 10.78 10.20 10.25 10.86 10.84 10.96 10.72
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Provide lunch
HA
BUD
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l e t t e r
No. 20 September 2010
w w w . b u d d h a a i r . c o m
A
fter 13 successful years in domestic aviation, Budhha Air has formally spread its wings to international skies with its first commercial flight to Paro. Buddha Air is the first international airline to operate flights to Bhutan. The Druk Kingdom permitted Buddha Air to operate flights to and from Paro as part of its bid to attract more international tourists. About 20 percent of the total tourists fly to Bhutan from Kathmandu. The Bhutanese government plans to
Buddha spreads wings to Int'l skies attract some 100 thousand air passengers in 2012 alone and gradually increase the number. “We hope that the international flights will contribute to our national economy,” said Birendra Bahadur Basnet, the Managing Director of Budhha Air at a press conference held just ahead of the launching of
the first commercial flight to Bhutan on August 23, 2010. The airline has begun with four flights a week with 18-seater Beechcraft 1900D aircrafts. “We will adjust our flight frequency as per the need after the renewal of existing Air Service Agreement (ASA) between the two countries,” Basnet added. contd. on page 2
The quality of service provided by Buddha is excellent. I am very much satisfied with its increasing service deliveries to the passengers. If possible please provide passengers with lunch packets in the flights that take more than 40 minutes. Ganesh Prasad Dhakal Bdhanilakantha Yatra: We have begun providing snacks to passengers during long-distance flights.
Ear pain during flight
Flights delays Nowadays flights are delayed. It is painful to wait in the airport for hours. If we cannot reach the destination in time, what is the use of travelling on the plane? You have to address this problem. n Ramesh Adhikary Biratnagar Nowadays the flights are being delayed. You have to pay attention to punctuality. n Dambar Khadka, Lalitpur Flights must be punctual and regular. n Ram Prasad Joshi Dhangadi YATRA: We apologize to our valued passengers for the delay. Due to foggy weather during winter, morning flights are often delayed. But the situation improves after the winter season is over. But there is still another reason for flight delays. It is due to air traffic. While the number of planes flying across the Nepali sky has increased, the size of our Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and the style of running it remain the same. We would also like to request the government to pay attention to this problem.
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I used to chew candies, gums etc whenever I felt ear pain due to high sound during the journey. But now doing so doesn’t help. What could be the possible solutions? Listening to music may work, but you don’t allow the passenger to use electronic devices. So, will you let me know what could be the solution? n Krishna Singh Hattiban, Lalitpur Yatra: It will help you if you chew gum or candies and also use cotton in your ears at the same time.
Articles of club members
Publish the articles of royal club members in the Yatra if possible. I would like to add that flights are being delayed and you should do your best to address the problem. n Rana Bahadur Gharti Magar YATRA: We will definitely publish your write-ups. Please contact Buddha Air head office in Jawalakhel.
Good flights
For the last five years I have been occasionally flying with the Buddha. I find the airline improving every year. Bravo! n Ranjan Parajuli Dharan
Buddha Air operates best flights in Nepal. That’s the reason why I chose to become a regular passenger of this airline. Congrats! Buddha Air is the best airline in Nepal. I think it has good management and human resources. That’s the reason why it made such an exemplary progress. It is really a success story in Nepalese private sector. Don’t be satisfied with what you are. Move ahead. n Bikas Niraula I am a frequent flyer. I use only Buddha Air for travelling in Nepal. It is cooperative and operates punctual flights. I wish bright future for Buddha Air. n Raj Kumar The services provided by Buddha Air are very good. I would like to thank the crew for being cooperative during flights. I would like to add jokes, stories in this Yatra in-flight magazine for entertainment and small pets should be around in the flights. n Kriti Thapa Maharajgunj, Kathmandu YATRA: Thank you for the suggestion. We will definitely include jokes from the next issue.
Transportation
Security and safety measures are already there. Punctuality is needed. Trolley services should be made available for free at the airports. Provide passengers with transportation service from airport to the domestic destination at subsidized rates. Rest is fine. Keep it up. n Shafiq Ahmad Sanepa, Lalitpur YATRA: We are restricted by Nepal Government to provide such services to the passengers by the airlines. BUDDHA
Yatra
March-April '011