User:Russavia/Drukair
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| Drukair - Royal Bhutan Airlines འབྲུག་མཁའ་འགྲུལ་ལས་འཛིན། |
||
|---|---|---|
| IATA KB |
ICAO DRK |
Callsign ROYAL BHUTAN |
| Founded | 5 April 1981 | |
| Commenced operations | 11 February 1983 | |
| Fleet size | 2 | |
| Destinations | 6 | |
| Parent company | Druk Holding and Investments Limited | |
| Company slogan | Kingdom in the sky | |
| Headquarters | Paro, Bhutan | |
| Key people | ||
| Website: http://www.drukair.com.bt | ||
Druk Air Corporation Ltd. (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་མཁའ་འགྲུལ་ལས་འཛིན།), trading as Drukair - Royal Bhutan Airlines, is the national airline of the Kingdom of Bhutan and operates a modest scheduled flight network within the South Asian region from its base at Paro Airport in the western dzongkhag of Paro.
Founded in 1981, ten years after Druk Gyalpo His Majesty King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck gradually began to open up the Kingdom from self-imposed isolation, Drukair has remained a lifeline with the outside world for the Bhutanese people, as well as supporting emerging inbound tourism and export industries.
Contents |
[edit] History
In 1968[1] the Indian Border Roads Organisation built an airstrip in the Paro valley, which was initially utilised for helicopter operations by the Indian Armed Forces.[2] The airline was established by Royal Proclamation on 5 April 1981. The first Dornier 228-200 landed at Paro Airport on 14 January 1983[2]
Using an 18-seat Dornier 228-200. Services were operated from Paro to Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) and Dhaka.
Jet services with BAe 146-100 aircraft started in November 1988 and with their introduction the network was able to be increased to link Paro with New Delhi, Bangkok and Kathmandu. The first commercial flight with an Airbus A319 took place on 31 October 2004.
Drukair is wholly owned by Druk Holding and Investments Limited.
[edit] Destinations
As of April 2008, Drukair operates scheduled flights to the following destinations:[3]
| Drukair destinations | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | City | Airport | Notes | |
| Bhutan | ||||
| Bhutan | Paro | Paro Airport | Base | |
| Asia | ||||
| Bangladesh | Dhaka | Zia International Airport | ||
| Delhi | Indira Gandhi International Airport | |||
| India | Gaya | Gaya Airport | ||
| Kolkata | Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport | |||
| Nepal | Kathmandu | Tribhuvan International Airport | ||
| Thailand | Bangkok | Suvarnabhumi Airport | ||
Drukair plans flights to Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore. [citation needed]
[edit] Fleet
The Drukair fleet consists of the following aircraft (December 2007)
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Zimba, Dasho Yeshey [1996]. "Three Decades of Planned Development", in Ramakant and Misra, Ramesh Chandra: Bhutan: Society and Polity, 2nd edition, Indus Publishing, 177-178. ISBN 8173870446. Retrieved on 2008-04-10.
- ^ a b Christ, Rolf F. (June 1983). "Bhutan puts its flag on the world's air map". ICAO Journal 38 (6): pp. 11–13. Montreal, Canada: International Civil Aviation Organization.
- ^ Drukair summer schedule 2008 (effective 10 April 2008 to 14 May 2008). Drukair. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
