Civil Aviation

Nepal’s airlines have stepped forward with cash, free cargo flights, and a helicopter to help the country recover from the Bhote Koshi flood in Rasuwa district. Nepal Airlines Corporation (RA), the flag carrier of Nepal, deducted money from every employee’s salary to hand over more than NPR 9.8 million to the government’s relief fund, according…

I first flew to Lukla Airport (LUA) on a rather unassuming day during the second flush of Covid restrictions in Nepal. There were conflagrations around the nation that had disrupted schools and canceled flights, and if you walked without a mask, your phlegm was bound to be befouled. I was heading out as a teacher…

On the morning of August 26, 2026, a flash flood tore down the Bhote Koshi gorge on Nepal’s border with Tibet, killing at least 1,280 people and leaving thousands more missing. The Airlines Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN) confirmed in a press release that its member helicopter companies had joined search and rescue operations within…

Himalaya Airlines (H9) is a Nepal-China joint venture airline that was established in August 2014 and began scheduled flights on May 31, 2016, with a single Airbus A320 flying between Kathmandu and Doha. The carrier is the first to offer services between Nepal’s capital city and Shenzhen. Unlike Nepal Airlines, the country’s much older flag…

Airbus has completed a Ground Vibration Test (GVT) on its A350F freighter, moving the aircraft a step closer to its first flight. The three-day test took place in Toulouse (TLS), France, in June 2026. Engineers shook the aircraft with external shakers and its own flight controls to measure how it responds to vibration, a step…

Nepal Airlines Corporation (RA) operates six active aircraft across three types, and the spread between the oldest and youngest is stark even by the standards of a small state carrier: a pair of De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters that have been flying Nepal’s mountain routes for more than four decades, alongside four Airbus jets…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport (ICAO code VOVI) at Bhogapuram on Saturday, August 1, 2026, ANI reported. The Greenfield airport sits in Vizianagaram district, about 45 kilometres from Visakhapatnam, and will become North Andhra Pradesh’s main gateway for domestic and international travel. Modi landed at the new runway and…

British Airways (BA) operates a fleet of 298 active aircraft across eight types, ranging from 24-year-old narrowbody workhorses to Airbus A350-1000s barely out of their factory wrapping. The airline’s overall active fleet carries an average age of 14.6 years, but that figure masks enormous variation between aircraft types. This breakdown looks at the oldest individual aircraft…

Altitude Air, a Kathmandu-based helicopter charter operator, is preparing to expand its fleet back to three helicopters by November 2026. The company currently flies with two aircraft after one of its three Airbus H125 helicopters was damaged beyond repair in an accident near Lobuche, in the Everest region, in late October last year. Company Director…