Buddha Air

Is Buddha Air safe?

It has one of the better records among Nepal's domestic airlines, which is a low bar. Buddha Air flies about 15 ATR turboprops between Kathmandu, Pokhara and the cities of the plains, plus two routes to India and the well-known Everest sightseeing flights. In 20 years it has had one fatal crash, in 2011, and in January 2026 one of its ATRs ran off the end of the runway at Bhadrapur. Like every airline certified in Nepal it is on the EU Air Safety ListEU Air Safety ListThe European Commission's list of airlines banned or restricted from flying in EU airspace because they do not meet international safety standards.More in the glossary, and it has no IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary audit. We score it 55, above Nepal Airlines (48) and Yeti Airlines (47).

The 2011 Everest flight crash

On 25 September 2011 a Beech 1900D, flight 103, was returning to Kathmandu from an "Everest Experience" sightseeing flight with 16 tourists and three crew. Cloud was low and the flight was still being handled under visual rules. On the base leg it hit a hillside near Kotdanda, about 5.5 km short of the runway and 5 km east of the approach line. All 19 on board died.

The pattern is the one behind most fatal accidents in Nepal: a flight continued in poor weather close to high ground. Buddha no longer lists the Beech 1900 among its aircraft; its own aircraft page shows only ATR types, and the Everest flights now use ATR 72s.

In April 2004 Nepal's regulator reported an accident with one death involving the same aircraft, which ASN presumes was a ramp or ground-handling accident. It falls outside our 20-year window.

What happened at Bhadrapur?

On the night of 2 January 2026, flight U4901 from Kathmandu, an ATR 72-500 built in 2007, landed on runway 10 at Bhadrapur in Koshi Province. The flight recorder showed it touched down only about 420 metres before the end of the 1,500-metre runway. Skid marks showed the crew braking hard, but the ATR veered right and then left, broke through the inner fence and stopped in a creek about 180 metres past the end. Both main gears, the nose gear, the propellers and the engines were badly damaged.

Seven of the 56 people on board were hurt, the co-pilot with head and facial injuries; the others were discharged after treatment. The director general of CAAN led a technical team to the airport the next morning, and the investigation commission has published preliminary findings. A touchdown that far along a short runway points to an approach that should have ended in a go-around. The final report should say why it did not; we will update this page when it does.

Bhadrapur was not the first warning. On 11 July 2024 another ATR 72 veered off the side of the runway in heavy rain at Bhairahawa and stuck in the mud with minor damage; Nepal's investigators rated it a serious incident. In March 2025 an ATR lost a nose wheel on take-off from Janakpur, found only after landing in Kathmandu, and crews shut down an engine in flight in January 2025 and February 2026 (AeroInside). Nobody was hurt in any of these, but two runway departures in 18 months on a network of short runways is the pattern we weigh most.

The fleet

In September 2026 Buddha Air flew 14 ATR 72-500s and one ATR 72-600, according to Onlinekhabar. The -600, registered 9N-AOS, arrived from Toulouse on 25 July 2026, the first of the type in Nepal, and a second is planned. The airline has retired its last ATR 42-320s, 1990s aircraft, and sold one for parts.

The ATR 72-500 is a proven turboprop that suits Nepal's short runways, but it is an older design without the -600's glass cockpit, and Nepali airlines often buy them second-hand. A fleet tracker put Buddha's ATR fleet at about 20 years on average before the ATR 42s left; we found no company figure. We score the fleet the same as Yeti's, which flies the same type.

Oversight in Nepal

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal regulates the airlines and also runs the airports they use, a conflict ICAO has raised since 2009. ICAO's 2022 audit gave Nepal 70.1% effective implementationICAO USOAPICAO's audit of how well each country's aviation regulator oversees safety. The result is an "effective implementation" percentage.More in the glossary. Bills to split CAAN were registered in parliament on 2 October 2026, as earlier versions were before they lapsed. The EU has banned every Nepali airline since 2013, and its June 2026 list still names Buddha Air. Buddha is not an IATA member, so there is no IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary audit to fill the gap. Nepal also publishes few incident reports, so the incidents we can see are probably not all there were.

How to fly Buddha Air more safely

• Fly in the morning. Cloud builds over the hills by midday, especially from June to September. The 2011 crash happened in low cloud on a flight that continued under visual rules.
• Book the Everest flight on a clear day, and take the first departure. If it is cancelled for weather, accept the refund or the next morning rather than looking for an operator that will go.
• Choose Buddha over smaller operators for trunk routes such as Kathmandu to Pokhara when you can. For Lukla, Jomsom and other mountain strips you will be on a different airline and a smaller aircraft.

How we scored it

The accident record (80) is the main reason Buddha scores above other Nepali airlines: no fatal accident in 15 years on the country's busiest domestic network, which puts it in our 80–94 band, but the 2011 crash and the 2026 overrun keep it at the bottom of that band. Oversight (25) is the same for all Nepali airlines, and the environment (30) the same as Yeti's. The fleet (55) is a sound but older turboprop fleet. Serious incidents (45) reflect the 2024 runway excursionRunway excursionWhen an aircraft leaves the runway surface during take-off or landing, either off the end (an overrun) or off the side (a veer-off).More in the glossary at Bhairahawa, the lost nose wheel and two in-flight engine shutdowns, in a country that publishes few reports.