Buddha Air

The airline was established on 23 April 1996 as a private limited company by Surendra Bahadur Basnet, a retired Supreme Court judge and former government minister; and his son, Birendra Bahadur Basnet. The name of the airline is derived from the Sanskrit word Buddha, a title used for the much revered Siddhartha Gautama. Operations commenced on 11 October 1997 with a sightseeing flight to Mount Everest using a brand new Beechcraft 1900D. In 2001, the airline partnered with the Bhutanese flag carrier Drukair to charter flights during the peak tourist season. Within ten years, the company had expanded to a fleet of seven 1900Ds. In 2008, a loan from the International Finance Corporation allowed the company to expand further by purchasing two ATR 42 aircraft. Buddha Air took delivery of its first 72-seat ATR 72 in June 2010. In July 2026, the airline acquired 70 seater ATR 72-600, the first of its kind in Nepal.

International operations

Buddha Air became the first international airline to operate charter flights to Paro Airport in Bhutan in August 2010.

In 2011, Buddha Air began international flights from Pokhara Airport to Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow, India; however, these flights were discontinued soon after.

Kolkata – Buddha Air first launched the Kathmandu–Kolkata route on 27 May 2019, operating three weekly flights between Tribhuvan International Airport and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata with a flight duration of about 1 hour 30 minutes. The service was later suspended in December 2019 amid low demand and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The airline resumed direct flights to Kolkata on 19 October 2025 after a six-year gap, initially operating three weekly return services (Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays) with ATR-72 turboprop aircraft. The flight time is approximately 1 hour 35 minutes, and this reinstatement reconnects Kathmandu and Kolkata as part of Buddha Air's international network.

Accidents and incidents

On 11 November 2003, a scheduled Buddha Air flight from Kathmandu enroute to Biratnagar mistakenly landed in Bhairahawa Airport, owing to the air traffic and a subsequent slip-up in communication in Kathmandu.

On 25 September 2011, Buddha Air Flight 103 crashed while attempting to land at Tribhuvan International Airport after a sightseeing flight of the Mount Everest region. All 19 passengers and crew on board the Beechcraft 1900D died. Out of the 19 passengers, 10 were Indian nationals, two were US nationals, one was Japanese and six were Nepalese. The crew of three were also Nepalese.

On 18 December 2020, Buddha Air Flight 505, which took off from Tribhuvan International Airport enroute to Janakpur Airport landed in Pokhara Airport. According to the airline, there was a mix-up due to lapses in communication and failure to follow detailed standard operating procedures.

On 16 December 2021, Buddha Air Flight 360, which took off from Bharatpur Airport to Tribhuvan International Airport with 19 passengers and three crew on board, made an emergency landing at Bharatpur Airport when its left engine failed. Passengers were transferred to another flight and flown to Kathmandu.

On 11 July 2024, Buddha Air Flight 805, an ATR 72-500 on a flight from Kathmandu, skidded off the runway as it landed at Gautam Buddha Airport. All 59 passengers and all four crew members were safely evacuated from the aircraft without injuries.

On 2 January 2026, Buddha Air Flight 901, an ATR 72-500 on a flight from Kathmandu, suffered a runway excursion while landing at Bhadrapur Airport, injuring seven people.