Cosmic Air

Cosmic Air Pvt. Ltd. (Nepali: कस्मिक एयर) was an airline based in Kathmandu, Nepal. It operated scheduled domestic and international services out of Tribhuvan International Airport. After already having been forced to temporarily suspended flights in 2005 and 2006 due to budgetary constraints, Cosmic Air ceased its operations in 2008.[3]

Cosmic Air
IATA ICAO Callsign
F5 COZ COSMIC AIR
Founded1997
Ceased operations2008
AOC #018/2003[1]
HubsTribhuvan International Airport
Focus citiesIndira Gandhi International Airport
Fleet size9 (at closure)
Parent companySOI Group[2]
HeadquartersKathmandu, Nepal
Key peopleSushil Shrestha (president)

History
Cosmic Air Saab 340 at Pokhara Airport (April 2001)

Cosmic Air was established in 1997 as a company wholly owned by Captain RP Pradhan. Flight operations started on 1 January 1998 with two Mil Mi-17 helicopters. In August 1998 Dornier 228 aircraft were added to the fleet. In October 2004 Cosmic Air acquired its first 105-seat Fokker 100 aircraft on lease from AerCap. In January and April 2005 two further airplanes of this type were leased to Cosmic Air.[4]

At its height in 2005 international services were launched. Financial problems became public in November of the same year, 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 125 million rupees. Operations were restarted after Cosmic Air managed to pay its first instalment of 5 million rupees. Still, Cosmic Air incurred a loss of 620 million rupees for 2005.[5]

Cosmic Air Fokker 100 at Tribhuvan International Airport (April 2008).

Another temporary suspension of operations occurred on 14 October 2006 due technical problems with the airline's only operational Fokker 100 aircraft forcing it to be grounded at Tribhuvan International Airport.[6] On 1 January 2007, India provided a temporary maintenance and operational base at New Delhi. By, then Cosmic air flew only to Kolkata, Mumbai and Varanasi also, limited cargo flights continued into India western provinces Gujarat Ahmedabad. After one year of suspension of its operations, Cosmic Air restarted scheduled services in October 2007.[7]

In 2008, Cosmic Air ceased its operations. According to The Kathmandu Post, this was caused mostly by the price war between the three biggest private airlines of Nepal at that time, Cosmic Air, Buddha Air and Yeti Airlines.[8]

On 10 January 2010, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal officially retracted Cosmic Air's Air operator's certificate.[9]

Destinations

Cosmic Air regularly served the following destinations from its hub at Tribhuvan International Airport, which were cancelled either at the closure of operations or before:[10][11]

Country City IATA ICAO Airport Notes Refs
BangladeshDhakaDACVGHSShahjalal International Airport
IndiaNew DelhiDELVIDPIndira Gandhi International Airport
VaranasiVNSVEBNLal Bahadur Shastri Airport
KolkataCCUVECCNetaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport
NepalBhairahawaBWAVNBWBhairahawa Airport
BharatpurBHRVNBPBharatpur Airport[12]
BiratnagarBIRVNVTBiratnagar Airport
JomsomJMOVNJSJomsom Airport
KathmanduKTMVNKTTribhuvan International AirportHub
NepalgunjKEPVNNGNepalgunj Airport
PokharaPKRVNPKPokhara Airport[13]

Cosmic Air also operated scheduled mountain sightseeing flights from Kathmandu to Mount Everest range. The flights usually departed in the early morning hours and returned to the airport one hour later.[14]

Fleet

At its height during 2005/2006, Cosmic Air operated a fleet the following types of aircraft:[15][16]

Cosmic Air fleet
Aircraft In Service Passengers Notes Refs
C Y Total
Fokker 100 4 — 105 105 only one of which remained with the airline upon closure[17] [18]
Saab 340 1 — 33 33
Dornier 228 4 — 18 18
Total 9

Former fleet
Cosmic Air historical fleet
Aircraft Introduced Retired Notes
Mil Mi-17 1997 ?

Trivia

After Cosmic Air's closure, one former Fokker 100 aircraft of the airline is at display at Aircraft Museum Dhangadhi, Nepal's first aviation museum.[19]

References
  1. "CAAN Report 2011-2012" (PDF). Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 September 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  2. "SOI Group celebrates anniversary". The Himalayan Times. 1 March 2005. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  3. "Cosmic Air at airlineupdate.com". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2010.
  4. "Introduction". Cosmic Air. Archived from the original on 23 May 2006. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  5. Baidya, Pratibedan (2 April 2006). "Flight to uncertainty: Cosmic Air lands into trouble once again". NepalNews.com. Archived from the original on 14 November 2006.
  6. "Cosmic Air flights stalled for now". The Himalayan Times. 15 October 2006. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  7. "Cosmic Air resumes flight". The Himalayan Times. 16 October 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  8. "Thai police hands over Cosmic Air director to Nepali cops". Thai police hands over Cosmic Air director to Nepali cops. 25 January 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  9. Karki, Dinesh (18 January 2010). "Three airline companies lose AOC". República. Archived from the original on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  10. "International Flight Schedule". Cosmic Air. Archived from the original on 2 October 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  11. "Destinations". Cosmic Air. Archived from the original on 23 May 2006. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  12. "Bharatpur-KTM air route stays costliest". The Himalayan Times. 28 July 2005. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  13. "Cosmic Air plans to fly to Pokhara". The Himalayan Times. 12 February 2005. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  14. "Cosmic Air begins mountain flight". The Himalayan Times. 17 November 2005. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  15. Cosmic Air historic fleet at airfleets.net
  16. "Our Planes". Cosmic Air. Archived from the original on 14 July 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  17. "Cosmic Air returns Fokker". The Himalayan Times. 9 September 2006. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  18. "Cosmic Air's 4th Fokker arrives". The Himalayan Times. 28 May 2005. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  19. "Nepal's first aircraft museum to open Sept 17". The Kathmandu Post. 7 September 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
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