Buddha Air to start direct flights to Kolkata from Kathmandu by May end

Nepal's private sector airlines Buddha Air on Saturday announced that it would start direct flights from Kathmandu to Kolkata by the end of May this year.

The airline had previously planned to operate flights to Kolkata, in Eastern India, from mid of April, but postponed the dates pertaining to the ensuing Parliamentary elections in India.

"The 2019 Lok Sabha Election, scheduled from 11 April to 19 May, 2019, coincides with our launch of flights to Kolkata, which was originally scheduled to be inaugurated on April 15, 2019," the airlines stated in its travel notice.

"This will definitely impact our occupancy at the very start of our operations during this period. Therefore, we have decided to postpone our inaugural flight to Kolkata from Kathmandu to start on 27 May 2019," the airlines further said.

"From May 27, 2019, we will operate three flights weekly between Kathmandu and Kolkata, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday," the travel notice added.

Buddha Air will use its ATR 72-500 aircraft along with the Buddha Holidays, a sister organization of the airlines, consisting of various religious and holiday packages for the Indian Passengers.

The airlines will also launch Kolkata tour package and Gangasagar and Jagannath temple worship package for Nepali passengers.

The airline currently has six ATR 72-500 aircraft in operation along with three ATR 42-320 with another ATR-72 to come into operation from next month.