Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, May 15:

Cosmic Air Pvt Ltd, Nepal’s leading private sector airline, is set to add another Fokker-100 aircraft to its fleet by the end of this month, which will enlarge Cosmic Air’s fleet to seven aircrafts.

“The fourth Fokker-100 aircraft will join the Cosmic Air fleet by the end of May. We are planning to begin operations to Kolkata and Varanasi in India following the arrival of the new aircraft,” said Lawrence K C Liew, general manager-marketing, Cosmic Air. He also informed that future route will be Yangoon in Myanmar.

As per tentative plans, the airline plans to operate three flights a week on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays to Kolkata and Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays to Varanasi.

He revealed the future routes and fleet expansion plan during the airline’s first ever GSA meet in Kathmandu, which was attended by delegates from six different countries and region including India, Bangladesh, Philippines, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

“We are set to expand the fleet and international routes as a budget airline, keeping in mind the increased demands,” he said, adding that Cosmic Air plans to add up to eight Fokker-100 aircrafts, provided improved infrastructure like adequate parking space and hangar at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu. “We will continue to be a low-frill airline with bigger number of frequencies and better connectivity,” Lawrence said. The airline’s competitive airfare strategy has helped to boost its occupancy rate in both the domestic and international sectors.

In domestic sector, it plans to operate to Bhadrapur and Pokhara with the new Fokker-100. It has already started operations on domestic trunk routes like Nepalgunj, Biratnagar and Bhairahawa with the jet aircraft.

Currently the airline has a fleet of six aircrafts including three Fokker-100, two Dornier-228s and a SAAB 340. Cosmic Air is the first Nepali private airlines to fly jet aircraft in the domestic sector.