Kathmandu, Mar. 22:Mountain Air, a new private company, is all set to operate in the domestic routes with its two brand new Breech 1900 C aircraft, the private operator said here today.

Having flown one of its aircraft yesterday and the other one scheduled to arrive here by next week, the private company plans to fly regular flights to Biratnagar, Bhadrapur, Bhairawa, Pokhara, and Nepalgunj apart from the mountain flights.

“Our market survey shows that we still have demand of airseats in the market, so we came to provide quality service,” said Shivendra Bahadur Basnet, Managing Director of Mountain Air.

The American-built aircraft Mountain Air will be operating has the capacity of 19 passengers and has turbo prop engines. Lease-purchased at the monthly instalment rate of US $ 37,000,   the aircraft costs US $ 3.5 million.

Having hired Indian pilots for now, Mountain Air plans to train its co-pilots into full-fledged pilots after some time. “We plan to reach the break-even point in six months,” Basnet said.

Registered four years ago, Mountain Air received its Aircraft Operating Certificate in 1998. Headquartered in the capital, the private airlines employs around 200 staff and plans to operate to Indian cities in the future.

“With the aircraft we have, we can also make hub flights to Varanasi, Lucknow, among others.”

With the operation of Mountain Air, the number of operating private airlines will reach around 20. Another half that number already have the Aircraft Operating Certificates.

The government allowed the private sector to fly in the domestic routes in the early 90’s. Before that, only Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation operated in the domestic front.