Buddha Air: Flying relentlessly for 26 years

After retiring from public life at the age of 70, Buddha Air, founded with his sons in 2054, is today the number one domestic airline in Nepal. Based on the mathematical numbers of passengers, ships and flights, he is ranked number one. Last year, 7.1 million passengers flew in domestic flights. In which Buddha Air's market share was 61 percent.

After becoming Nepal's first election commissioner, chairman, judge, minister in various organizations and commissions, Surendra Bahadur took his sons Birendra and Shivendra along with him and started operating Buddha Air in 2054 October. After its founding executive chairman Basnet passed away on 10 January 2080 at the age of 95, the managerial leadership of this airline fell on the shoulders of his eldest son Birendra. He also says that after a few years, the leadership of the air service will be handed over to his daughters. "I am thinking of handing over the leadership to the new generation after a few years," he said. Based on my experience, I will remain as the chairman.'

Birendra was in Biratnagar before the establishment of Buddha Air, while Shivendra had recently returned to the country after training as a helicopter pilot. He was flying helicopters as a co-pilot with Asian Airlines. In the early 50s, the Basnet family had no regular source of income.

Basnet family together with two partners planned to establish a helicopter company when they were working on carpet business, fish sawdust production and ayat export. "After my father's retirement, we didn't have a business that would generate regular income. It was difficult to light the stove at home,' Executive Chairman Birendra Bahadur Basnet told Kantipur in Jaulakhel on Wednesday, 'In order to do business, a plan has been made to operate an air service with two partners of Vaidya and Goyal Gharana, keeping one million rupees to operate the Mi-17 helicopter.' He said that there was talk of naming Hanuman Air and later on the advice of family and friends, a company named 'Buddha Air' was established in the name of Gautam Buddha himself. At that time, the Russian helicopter Mi-17 had a plan to fly with passengers in the middle and cargo on the sides.

The three families collected Rs 8/8 lakh for the helicopter search. And, three representatives of the trio went as far as Russia and Ukraine in search of helicopters. There they couldn't find a reasonably priced helicopter. Then came back empty handed. At the same time, after the International Air Transport Association (IATA) implemented the rule that helicopters cannot be flown with passengers and cargo at the same time and should focus only on one of them, the three partners along with Basnet gave a break to the plan to establish a helicopter.

Birendra was upset after not being able to bring the helicopter. Was just 31/32 years old. They had two daughters. "I had a job as a project manager in an INGO called Rose Club Korea with a salary of 10,000 rupees," Basnet said, recalling the initial days, "I was very sad when the helicopter did not come. My father and I were looking for ways to establish an airline company.' At that time, Birendra went to ask advice from Captain Phizonath Nepali of Nepal Airlines Corporation. The senior captain was Virendra's cousin by Nepalese descent. He was interested in new aircraft and technology being produced in the world. At that time, Nepali skies were dominated by the British ship Avro.

Captain Nepali suggested to Basnet, "Hey brother!" Now the American ship Witchcraft-90-D has arrived. The price of this ship is 5 million US dollars (Rs 325 million according to the current exchange rate). Faster speed compared to Avro. As 16 of the 18 seats have windows, it is good for mountain flights. Accepting Captain Nepali's advice, the Basnet family decided to bring the American ship Witchcraft-90-D. 'Father was also ajit. "Let's go," said Basnet, "we decided to buy a Witchcraft ship." Buddha Air, which is registered as a helicopter company, has confirmed the arrival of two Witchcraft aircraft. The two ships cost Rs 65 crore. However, with a down payment of only 10 percent, the American company invested 90 percent of the loan for the ship. At that time, the real estate of Jaulakhel, the land of Biratnagar and Dagihat were all in the name of my father. We took a loan of 10 percent of the total cost (6.5 crores) from the Employees' Provident Fund and the Bank of Ceylon by using the assets of the late father. Back then, there was no project finance like it is now. At that time, the Nepalese sky had the then Royal Nepal Air Service Corporation (currently Nepal Air Service Corporation), the first Nepali private airline, Necon Air, Nepal Airways and Everest Air. D Ship Buddha landed in Kathmandu in October 2054. At that time, the British ship Avro used to take 1 hour to reach Biratnagar from Kathmandu. Witchcraft-90-D took off in 28 minutes. Buddha started commercial flights on October 25, 2054 with 99 employees. Today Buddha has about 1500 employees.

Five months before Buddha started flying, Nepal Airways and 3 days before Everest Air were shut down. Buddha Air started flights to Pokhara, Parbati and Biratnagar. 'In the beginning, we flew up to 25 mountain flights,' said Executive Chairman Basnet, 'then we used to fly to Pokhara, Biratnagar, Bhairawa.' had brought After the company's 11th year of establishment, Buddha moved from a 19-seater ship to a 47-seater ship.

when the Yeti took off on a 30-seat British Jetstream flight. Budha, who was flying a 19-seat Witchcraft, began to suffer financial losses. Executive Chairman Basnet said that Yeti's decision to bring Jetstream forced Buddha to go to ATR.

Budha has flown up to 7 American Witchcraft with 19 seat capacity until July 2065, then brought 47 French-Italian ATR-42 ships to Nepal. After July 067 it started inducting ATR-72 aircraft with a capacity of 70 seats. Buddha now has 17 ATR ships. In the 25th year since the company's founding, he's taken the little American Witch-90 off the shelf. Currently Budha has three 47-seat capacity ATR-42s and 14 70-seat capacity ATR-72s. After Budha started making financial gains on ATR aircraft, Yeti Airlines is currently flying ATR aircraft like Budha by removing Jetstream from its fleet. Yeti currently has 5 ATR aircraft.

Buddha is the company with the most number of aircraft among the 9 airlines operating domestic flights in Nepal. Not only in Nepal, Buddha is one of the companies that fly the most ATR aircraft in Asia. According to the latest data, the Buddha makes a maximum of 148 flights across the country when it returns daily. After this, Yeti, which is number two, makes a maximum of 70 daily flights and Shree makes up to 26. According to

executive president Basnet, Buddha has been serving 7 to 8 thousand passengers daily. From Surkhet and Tumlingtar in the inner valley to Terai, Buddha's ships are flying on 43 air routes to 15 destinations from 6 am to 12 pm. With the federalism, Budha has been keeping ships in Biratnagar, Bhairahawa, Pokhara, Bharatpur and flying to the federal capital from there in the morning. Budha, which added two ATR ships during the Covid-19 pandemic, has added six ships so far. Completing 26 years of establishment. It is now dreaming of a jet flight from Pokhara to New Delhi, India.

Since Buddha Air was established, 40 airlines have closed in Nepal. Buddha, which serves 3 million passengers annually, earns around 40 million rupees daily from tickets and cargo. If Budha has to stop flying for a day, there will be a big shock in Nepal's economy. "We are doing business of around 15 billion annually," Basnet said, "of which we are paying one and a half billion to the Civil Aviation Authority and 3 billion to the state for various duties and taxes."

Today Buddha Air has become a national asset. It spends only 2.5 billion rupees annually on salaries from loaders to pilots. In which the minimum is from 50 thousand to 3 lakh rupees and the average salary is around one and a half lakh. "Our employees have made a great contribution to bring Buddha Air to where it is today," said Executive Chairman Basnet, "Buddha Air is a company run not by the mind, but by the heart of the employees."