Buddha Air retires its first ATR-42 aircraft

KATHMANDU: Buddha Air has retired its ATR-42 aircraft following the successful completion of its economic life of 70,000 cycles.

The aircraft, registered as 9N-AIN, was taken out of service after a final mountain flight on Tuesday morning, according to the airline. It had completed 40,000 flight cycles in Nepal.

According to the airline, the aircraft was honored with a water cannon salute as it was moved to Buddha Air’s hangar for decommissioning after its final flight on Tuesday.

Buddha Air added the aircraft to its fleet in 2008, and it entered commercial service with a mountain flight on September 17 of that year. The 47-seater aircraft served 1.8 million passengers in Nepal, according to the airline.

Buddha Air, which started operation with Beechcraft 1900D aircraft, operates an all-ATR fleet at present. It currently has two ATR-42s and 15 ATR-72s.