B U D D H A No. 23 December '11 w w w. b u d d h a a i r. c o m Stretching over an area of 25,000 sq ft inside the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), the hangar constructed by Buddha Airline has the latest technologies available in the world. We are also proud of the fact that it is the first time in the country s history that a domestic private airline, which has all along given topmost priority for flights safety, has constructed a closed-door hangar. Shifting to state-of-the-art hangar, finally Subsequently, the operation and engineering departments of the airline will be shifted to the state-of-the-art hanger in December-end for better coordination among the departments to increase flights safety. The total construction cost of the hangar, which took a whole long year for its completion, has been estimated to cross Rs 200 million. The airline will pay Rs 5 million annually to Nepal government for the land. The ground floor of the three-storey hangar consists of engineering workshop and store, the first floor has operation and engineering departments, and contd. on page 2
h a n g a r the second floor has a canteen, a meeting hall, marketing department and operation and engineering departments. We thank Noida-based SML LTD, Jaya Buddha Construction for civil works, Nobel Company, and Bira furniture for their timely works to complete the construction of the hangar. Without a hangar of its own, Buddha Air faced many difficulties as the maintenance works of the aircrafts had to be done under the open sky. Now the maintenance works will be carried out inside the hangar which is further supposed to ensure the safety of flights On top of that, the hangar will enable the airline to do the maintenance works during the nights. Till date, the airline has been able to fly each plane only 330 days a year as the maintenance works have to be conducted during broad daylight. With the hanger coming into operation, the total utilization of the airplanes will go up to 345 days a year, leading to the maximum use of the airline s fleet. This will in turn help the airline to lower its airfares so that ordinary people too afford to buy air tickets. It will, on the other hand, also generate employment BUDDHA 2 Yatra Dec '11-Feb 2012
and help boost the economy. Besides, the maximum use of the airplanes will help bring in more tourists as the airline has already expanded its wing to international sectors. It may be recalled that the Buddha Air has already begun flights to Bhutan and various cities of India and also plans to link various other cities of the southern neighbor in the near future. Buddha Air had been requesting the government of Nepal for the last decade to let the airline construct a Till date, the airline has been able to fly each plane only 330 days a year as the maintenance works have to be conducted during broad daylight. With the hanger coming into operation, the total utilization of the airplanes will go up to 345 days a year, leading to the maximum use of the airline s fleet. hangar of its own. But it took 10 years before the government permitted the airline to construct the hangar due to red tape in Nepal s bureaucracy. Buddha Airline thanks the government for helping us realize our dream. BUDDHA Yatra Dec '11-Feb 2012 3
c U S T O M E R C A R E Learning & experience-sharing for customer care Ghimire K./ Joshi S. (Facilitators) Our slogan Passengers Are The Lifeblood Of Buddha Air highlights the importance we give to our valued passengers. Keeping in mind the ethos of the company, Buddha Air always endeavors to serve the passengers best by operating reliable planes and safe flights, employing qualified crews and engineers, and through timely repairs and maintenance. Besides, we have also launched innovative services such as ticketing via internet and cell phone text messages. The management seeks innovations and improvements in all the sectors of the company, including its administrative branch. In an initiative to promote the values of the company among the field staffers and collect their opinion to further improve passenger services, the Human Resource Department (HRD) of the Airline conducted a workshop on communication and customer care in nine stations of the Buddha Air including Bhadrapur, Biratnagar, Pokhara, Bharatpur, Simara, Janakpur, Bhairahawa, Dhangadhi and Nepalgunj. The purpose of the workshop was to train the employees in the values of professional etiquettes and customer care. Buddha Air s customer care is guided by three Rs: Respect, Responsiveness and Reliability. Accordingly, the workshop inspired the employees to treat our valued Buddha Air s customer care is guided by three Rs: Respect, Responsiveness and Reliability. customers with utmost love, respect and timely response to their needs so that they could become our frequent flyers. The participants committed themselves to translate these ideals into reality. As the participants can testify, the workshops became a good forum for experience-sharing and meaningful learning. The participants eagerly shared the experiences they had gone through while dealing with passengers both pleasant and unpleasant. Some stories were very emotional and illustrative of a strong bonding between the staff on the ground and the passengers. Hearing these stories from staffers, some of whom have been with Buddha Air for a quite long time (the average tenure of the company s employees is 10 year when the company itself is only 13 years old) was both touching and motivating. These lessons will also help us design further programs on customer care. The feedback that we received from the participants has inspired us to design and conduct even more programs to enhance the skills of our employees. The management has agreed to incorporate most of the suggestions that came from the stations into its HRD policies and implement them. We would like to thank Mr Khagendra Bahadur Basnet, Sr Manager of the HRD for his useful guidance in designing and conducting the workshop. 4 BUDDHA Yatra Dec '11-Feb 2012
Royal Club Mileage Chart CONTACT ADDRESS Phone: 5521015; Ext: 114/130 email: royalclub@buddhaair.com GOLD PLATINUM S.N. SECTOR AWARDS NORMAL APEX B. FARE NORMAL APEX B FARE 1 KTM-SIF 109 - - 121 - - 960 2 KTM-BHR 133 87 29 147 96 32 1160 3 KTM-JKR 161 105 35 177 116 39 1400 4 KTM-PKR 173 113 38 190 124 41 1500 5 KTM-BWA 230 150 50 253 165 55 2000 6 KTM-BIR 276 180 60 305 199 66 2400 7 KTM-BDP 288 188 63 316 206 69 2500 8 KTM-KEP 426 278 93 468 305 102 3700 9 KTM-MTN 460 - - 506 - - 4000 10 KTM-DHI 690 450 150 759 495 165 6000 11 KTM-TMI 209 - - 230 - - 1900 12 BIR-TMI 123 - - 135 - - 1110 gift VOUCHER Awards Chart Required Mileage Points for Gold Member 1250 1875 3125 5000 Required Mileage Points for Platinum Member 1110 1665 2775 4445 Amount in Rs. 1,000 1,500 2,500 4,000 1 Reebok Show Room-Durbar Marg 2 The splash -Su Mart -Man Bhawan 3 Labels Store -Adidas -Durbar Marga 4 LAbels Store -Adidas -Jawalakhel 5 Goavari Village Resort 6 Dhulikhel Mountain Resort 7 Nagarkot Hill Resort 8 Hotel Tulasi -Pokhara 9 The Rhino Residency -Chitawan 10 Roots Fashion-Putalisadak, Nepal share Mkt. Building 11 Rock Port - Durbar Marga 12 Lee -Durbar Marga BUDDHA Yatra Dec '11-Feb 2012 5
Top Flyer of the months (June-November) 1. Surya Prasad Joshi Earned Mileage : 13642 2. Mr. Prakash Kainee Earned Mileage : 12134 3. Mr. Daya Ram Thapa Earned Mileage : 10993 PALHI CHHAPAKHANA a complete printing house Contact US FOR: All kinds of Printing Items Mobile: 9841292876 ;]jf ;DaGwL u'gf;f] tyf ;'emfj ep Od]n ug'{xf]; M care@buddhaair.com Please email us if you have any suggestions & compalints 8 BUDDHA Yatra Dec '11-Feb 2012
With Best Compliments From K.M. Dastur REINSURANCE BROKERS PRIVATE LIMITED Insurance and Reinsurance Specialist Brokerage Services Regd. Office : Tel : 91-22-2285 5855 Cambata Building Fax : 91-22-2204 0085 42 Maharshi Karve Road E-mail : kmd@kmdastur.com Mumbai 400 020. Mumbai London Dubai Chennai Hyderabad Vizag Bangalore Delhi Lucknow Indore Ahmedabad Kochi Baroda Kolkata
No. 22 June 2011 l e t t e r B U D D H A w w w. b u d d h a a i r. c o m Hangar BUDDHA S STATE-OF-THE-ART B uddha Air will make use of its state-of-the-art closed door Hangar Facility after two months. We have invested Rs. 120 million on this project. This hangar is expanded contd. on page 2 Snacks & Beer Services are excellent. But I would like to request you to provide the long distance passengers with more snacks. Madan Prasad Rimal It is good that you provide cold drinks during the journey. But I think nobody wants cold drinks during the winter. Pease arrange tea or coffee for passengers during the winter. Hari Lamichhane, Dharan Buddha Air is the best airline of Nepal and I wish its bright future. But I have a suggestion to make. Please serve beer during long distance flights? Subesh Khadka, Kalanki Increase food and beverage services. Provide tea and coffee during winter and cold drinks during summer. Rest is okay. Sujeet Kumar Shrestha, Nepalgunj Yatra: We have been serving peanuts and non-alcoholic drinks to the passengers. As per the policy of the Buddha Air, we have refrained from providing you with alcoholic drinks. Such a policy has been formulated partly because it incurs extra financial burden on the company. We have been serving light snacks like peanuts as we have short distance domestic flights. And we are sorry to say that we cannot serve tea and coffee for now due to technical reasons. Thanks you for your suggestions. Good Services Very nice services. Enjoyed the journey. Rohit Verma, Lucknow Quality services. Keep it up. Nar Bahadur Buda, Bansbari, Kathmandu I enjoyed your good services. Harich Verma, Uttar Pradesh There is a deluge of suggestions from the passengers in the Yatra magazine that the airline should pay attention to punctuality. If you have high regards for passengers, please do something to operate timely flights. Ratan Dev, Dhanusha Punctuality is what matters the most. So be punctual. Hari Prasad Ghimire, Bageshwor VDC, Banke You should maintain your punctuality. Rest is fine. Dr Chhewang Namkel Lama, Chuchepati, Chahabil Keep your pace and efforts as usual. Timely flights are expected. Gopal Prasad Tamang, Jorpati Respect time and be unique. Punctual flights You should maintain the trust you have earned. Don t let your services degrade. Umesh Kumar Raghubanshi, Satdobato Yatra: We would like to thank our valued passengers for best wishes. We serve the best and give topmost priority for customer services. Hari Krishna Bhattarai Get goodwill by maintaining the aircrafts and maintaining punctuality. Sibani Shah, Kathmandu Yatra: We would like to apologize to our valued customers for the inconveniences caused by flight delays, but this is not our fault. Much of the delayed caused due to the congested airport. The ever increasing air traffic has dogged the airport. While the number of flights to and from Kathmandu has gone up dramatically, especially after the peace process began, the size of the airport in the capital remains more or less the same. And the government is yet to take serious steps to enlarge the airport or take initiatives for other alternatives. This problem usually aggravates with the beginning of the winter session. Due to poor visibility caused by foggy weather, flights are often delayed, especially during morning. We would like to request the government of Nepal to take measures to reduce air traffic at the airport. Yatra Lucky Winners for Mountain Flight 1. Kedar Baral 2. Meena Basnet 3. Krishna Karki 10 BUDDHA Yatra Dec '11-Feb 2012