Buddha Air

✅ Trip Verified | The airport in Kathmandu is chaotic but Buddha Air did a good job. If you don’t want to do hiking in the Himalayas you should definitely take the flight. Our flight was delayed due to weather reasons but once we took off the flight crew did an amazing job! The only two concerns with the airline I have are the safety and the reliability as I am not certain if the international standards apply here.

✅ Verified Review | Flew Pokhara to Kathmandu. Buddha Air service in Nepal is excellent. Good customer care, baggage handling is good. All seats are economy class, best value for money. No entertainment system because of very short flight time i.e. 20 minute. Seat is comfortable, but windows of aircraft were not very clean. This is the best airlines on the domestic sector of Nepal.

Kathmandu to Biratnagar. I have travelled regularly with this company, particularly too and from Biratnagar and Nepalganj. Onboard and ground service is fine. Delays are frequent in Nepal, and this is not always the fault of the airline. Buddha uses relatively new planes, which are comfortable inside, although given the short length of most routes, this is not really an issue. Checking in and baggage collection can be chaotic sometimes, primarily due to the poor infrastructure at domestic airports. The ATR flights usually have allocated seats, so when heading west ask for a right side window for mountain views, or left side if heading east. The smaller beachcraft used to fly to some smaller towns usually have no allocated seating. If you want to be first on the plane, make sure you are last on the transfer bus. The primary problem is the outrageous fixed 'foreigner fares', which can be up to 4 times more than for local people. There are no discounts or promotional fares available, even if you book months in advance. As a result, few foreign passengers travel by air in Nepal unless they are on work related travel, although some high end tourists, usually on packages, use the route to Pokhara. You can travel to Malaysia or Dubai in economy for the same price as a return ticket to Nepalganj (35 min flight), or fly business class to India. . Sadly, all the airlines in Nepal fix these high fares, operating as a cartel - and I cant begin to imagine the damage this causes to the tourism sector, particularly in getting people to visit new parts of Nepal. This appears unlikely to change in the near future, so passengers be aware before planning your travels.

✅ Verified Review | The Buddha Air flight I took the last was the shortest route in Nepal, an 18 minute fly from the capital Kathmandu to Simara in mid and southern Nepal. The airline check in was smooth. The staff were cooperative. They operate a frequent flyer program in the name Royal Club. As for the mileage for the Royal club, their frequent flyer program, it is offered full I'm Y, half in A, and a quarter in B. All other classes C, D and E do not add or accrue miles. The flight was on time. They used a bus to take the passenger to the boarding point. Chocolate was given on board. Seats were in 1x1 configuration. 18 people can sit on a 1900D. Flight was smooth and turbulence free. Landing and take off was good. Baggage handling at the destination the small airport of Simara is manual. The staff take the baggage out on a trolley for the passengers to claim showing there tags. Overall Buddha Air is a trusted brand in Nepal domestic sector .

I have flown with them three times now and they are always late sometimes due to weather and are small planes so I understand. Meant to fly from Pokhara to Kathmandu on 18th but cancelled due to storm the staff are so disorganised you have to fight through the Nepalese to get to the desk. Chaos but flew out the next morning which was late of course. Staff are always lovely.

Pokhara to Kathmandu ATR 42 aircraft. Arrived at the airport to find out my flight was over an hour late but as I was early I asked if I could be put onto the earlier flight which ended up taking off 15 minutes after the flight I had booked. The previous day I had tried to change to an earlier flight and was told that they were all full (festival time). Strangely there were at least six free seats on the plane so I don't know why they didn't rebook other passengers - clearly you have to ask. It's the same plane going back and forth so more susceptible to delays than others like Simrik that were using two Beechcraft planes that were half the size of Buddha Air's. (This also means that you can arrive at the airport see your plane but if it's an hour later you have to wait for it to go to Kathmandu and back before it's your turn.) Sweets for takeoff water in-flight which was nice - served in a 20 minute window. Most importantly it felt safe - the cabin attendants were attentive to this. It's expensive as the price is fixed for all airlines on the route but rescheduling is free of charge depending on availability (even multiple times). The Himalayas are the in-flight entertainment. Stunning.