April 19: Buddha Air, a leading private airlines company in Nepal, has decided to operate inter-province flights from its base in Pokhara. The company will conduct test flights to four destinations from Gandaki, Lumbini and Bagmati provinces from Pokhara.
Buddha Air will fly from Pokhara to Simara, Biratnagar, Nepalgunj, and from Bharatpur in Bagmati Province to Bhairahawa from Saturday, May 1. The company has been operating regular flights to these destinations from Kathmandu.
The company has also fixed the airfare for the inter-province flights. The airfare for Pokhara-Biratnagar has been fixed between Rs 6,000 to Rs 10,800.
Similarly, the Pokhara-Nepalgunj flight will cost a minimum of Rs 4,500 to a maximum of Rs 7,200. The airfare of the Pokhara-Simara flight will cost between Rs 4,300 to Rs 6,700, and the Pokhara-Bhairahawa flight will cost a minimum of Rs 3,100 to a maximum of Rs 3,900.
Likewise, airfare for Tumlingtar-Biratganagar will vary from Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,200 and Rs 2,500 to Rs 4,000 for the Bhairahawa-Bharatpur flight.
The fare is based on the operating cost of ATR-72, said Birendra Bahadur Basnet, managing director of the company.
However, the company informed that the flight to these destinations will start from May 1 by operating Beachcraft. The company has demanded that the provincial government and the federal government provide special facilities for inter-province flights.
Basnet informed that the airline company is planning to buy an additional aircraft by May 15.  Pokhara is the second-largest city after Kathmandu, and Buddha Air has adopted a strategy to make it a base for domestic flights.
Basnet informed that the company has been following 'Safety Guidelines against Covid-19' since the outbreak of the pandemic.