Himal Press 
The ATR-72 is given a water cannon salute before it was pulled out from service.
KATHMANDU: Buddha Air has formally retired its ATR 72 aircraft with call sign 9N-AJO after the turboprop completed 70,000 flight cycles. The airline has claimed that it is the first time an ATR 72-500 has been retired globally after reaching its full operational cycle limit.
In aviation, a flight cycle refers to a complete flight—a takeoff and the subsequent landing.
According to the airline, the ATR-72 aircraft has a maximum operational capacity of about 72,000 cycles. The aircraft was withdrawn from service after completing 70,000 cycles over 16 years of operation.
The aircraft had been in commercial service since July 2, 2010, and its final flight was operated on March 9, 2026, from Bhairahawa to Kathmandu. During its service life, the aircraft carried more than 2.48 million passengers, according to the airline.
Birendra Bahadur Basnet, executive chairperson of the airline, said the aircraft played a vital role in making air travel in Nepal more accessible, affordable, and environmentally friendly.
Earlier, the airline had retired its ATR-42 aircraft in September 2024 after completing its service cycle.
Buddha Air, the largest domestic airline in the country in terms of fleet size and number of flights, has also been operating scheduled flights to Varanasi and Kolkata in India.
