- Cosmic Air
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Cosmic Air 
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COSMIC AIRFounded 1997 Ceased operations 2008 Hubs Tribhuvan International Airport Focus cities Indira Gandhi International Airport Destinations Parent company Cosmic Air Pvt. Ltd. Headquarters Kathmandu, Nepal Key people Sushil Shrestha (president) Website http://www.cosmicair.com/ Cosmic Air was an airline based in Kathmandu, Nepal. It operated scheduled domestic and international services out of Kathmandu Airport, aiming at foreign tourists. After already having been forced to temporarily suspended flights in 2005 and 2006 due to budgetary constraints, Cosmic Air was finally shut down in 2008.[1]
Contents
History
Cosmic Air was established in 1997 as a company wholly owned by Captain RP Pradhan. Flight operations started on 1 January 1998 with two Mil Mi-17 helicopters. In August 1998 Dornier 228 aircraft were added to the fleet. In October 2004 Cosmic Air acquired its first 105-seat Fokker 100 aircraft on lease from AerCap Ireland. In January and April 2005 two further airplanes of this type were leased to Cosmic Air.
At its height in 2005 international services were launched. Financial problems became public in November of the same year, when the airline had to halt its domestic operations after the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation refused to sell it fuel unless it cleared past debts of 125 million rupees. Operations were restarted after Cosmic Air managed to pay its first instalment of 5 million rupees. Still, Cosmic Air incurred a loss of 620 million rupees for 2005.[2]
Another temporary suspension of operations occurred on 14 October 2006 because of technical problems with the airline's only operational Fokker 100 aircraft aircraft was grounded for technical reasons.[3]
In 2008[when?], Cosmic Air ceased all operations and was subsequently dismantled.
Services
At March 2008, Cosmic Air operated scheduled flights to the following destinations:[citation needed]
- Domestic scheduled destinations: Biratnagar, Kathmandu, Nepalgunj.
Fleet
At its height during 2005, Cosmic Air operated a fleet the following types of aircraft:[4]
- 1 Dornier 228
- 4 Fokker 100 (only one of which remained with the airline upon closure)
- 1 Saab 340A
References
- ^ Cosmic Air at airlineupdate.com
- ^ Nepalnews.com 2 April 2006
- ^ Nepal Tourism Directory retrieved 18 November 2006
- ^ Cosmic Air historic fleet at airfleets.net
External links
Airlines of Nepal Current Agni Air • Buddha Air • Flying Dragon Airlines • Guna Airlines • Gorkha Airlines • Nepal Airlines • Shree Airlines • Sita Air • Tara Air • Yeti Airlines •
Defunct Air Ananya • Air Nepal International • Asian Airlines • Base Air • Cosmic Air • Everest Air • Impro Airways • Karnali Air • Mero Air • Mountain Air (Nepal) • Necon Air • Shangri-La Air • Skyline Airways
Categories:- Defunct airlines of Nepal
- Airlines established in 1997
- Airlines disestablished in 2008
- Airlines of Nepal
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