Cosmic Air

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Cosmic Air is an airline based in Kathmandu, Nepal. It operates scheduled domestic services in Nepal, mainly for the tourist industry. Its main base is Kathmandu Airport, with a hub at Pokhara Airport. The airline suspended flights on 14 October 2006, but expected to reinstate flights at the end of October after aircraft maintenance checks. ^[1]

Contents 1 Code Data 2 History 3 Services 4 Fleet 5 External links 6 References

[edit] Code Data

• IATA Code: F5
• ICAO Code: COZ
• Callsign: COSMIC AIR ^[2]

[edit] History

The airline was established in 1997 and started operations on 1 January 1998 with two Mil Mi-17 helicopters. In August 1998 Dornier 228 aircraft were added to the fleet. It is wholly owned by Captain RP Pradhan. It launched international services in 2005, but has since returned two leased aircraft. Financial problems became public in November 2005 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 Rs 125 million. Operations restarted after the airline paid its first instalment of Rs 5 million. In 2005 Cosmic Air incurred a loss of Rs 620 million. ^[3]

The temporary suspension of operations in October 2006 was because the airline's only operational Fokker aircraft was grounded for technical reasons. The aircraft had been operating on the Delhi, Varanasi, Biratnagar and Nepalgunj sectors. ^[4]

[edit] Services

Cosmic Air operates the following services (at December 2005):

• Domestic scheduled destinations: Bhairawa, Biratnagar, Jomsom, Kathmandu, Nepalganj, Pokhara, Simara and Tumlingtar.

• International scheduled destinations: Delhi (twice daily), Dhaka (5 times a week), Varanasi (6 times a week), and Kolkata (4 times a week).

[edit] Fleet

The Cosmic Air fleet includes the following aircraft (at August 2006) ^[5] :

• 1 Dornier 228-100
• 2 Dornier 228-200
• 4 Fokker 100

In October 2004 Cosmic Air acquired its first 105-seat Fokker 100 on lease from AerCap Ireland. In January and April 2005 AerCap Ireland and AerCo leased two further Fokker 100s to Cosmic Air. This leasing was terminated on 15 March 2006, due to Cosmis Air default on the leasing agreement. ^[3]

Previously operated:

• 1 Saab 340A (at January 2005)

[edit] External links

• Cosmic Air

[edit] References

1. ^ Airliner World, December 2006
2. ^ Airline Codes
3. ^ ^{a b} Nepalnews.com 2 April 2006
4. ^ Nepal Tourism Directory retrieved 18 November 2006
5. ^ Flight International, 3-9 October 2006