Tara Air

Tara Air Pvt. Ltd. is an airline headquartered in Kathmandu, Nepal.[3] It is a subsidiary of Yeti Airlines. Tara Air was formed in 2009 using aircraft from the Yeti Airlines fleet and is based at Tribhuvan International Airport, with a secondary hub at Nepalgunj Airport. The airline operates scheduled flights and air charter services with a fleet of STOL aircraft, previously provided by Yeti Airlines. Its operations focus on serving remote and mountainous airports and airstrips.[4]

Tara Air
IATA ICAO Callsign
TB[1] TRA[lower-alpha 1] TARA AIR
Founded2009 (2009)
HubsTribhuvan International Airport
Secondary hubs
Fleet size7
Destinations15
Parent companyYeti Airlines
HeadquartersKathmandu, Nepal
Key peopleAng Tshering Sherpa, Founder
Websitewww.taraair.com

History

Tara Air was formed in 2009 when Yeti Airlines split its STOL aircraft operations from its regional operations.[5] The airline's STOL operations were rebranded as Tara Air and focused on providing services into remote and mountainous airports and airstrips.[6]

Destinations
Tara Air DHC-6 Twin Otter at Jomsom Airport
Tara Air DHC-6 Twin Otter at Simikot Airport
Tara Air Dornier 228 at Tenzing-Hillary Airport

The airline operates scheduled domestic flights to a number of destinations as well as offering air charter services. Tara Air operates daily scheduled flights between Kathmandu and Lukla, and between Jomsom and Pokhara. Other destinations are served at varying frequency.[2]

DestinationAirportNotesRefs.
KathmanduTribhuvan International AirportHub
NepalgunjNepalgunj AirportFocus city
PokharaPokhara AirportFocus city
BajhangBajhang AirportTerminated[7]
BajuraBajura Airport
BhojpurBhojpur Airport[8]
BirendranagarSurkhet AirportTerminated[7]
BowangDhorpatan AirportTerminated[7]
DiktelKhanidanda Airport
DolpaDolpa Airport
JiriJiri AirportTerminated[7]
JomsomJomsom Airport
JumlaJumla Airport
LuklaTenzing-Hillary Airport
LamidandaLamidanda Airport
LangtangLangtang AirportTerminated[7]
ManangManang AirportTerminated
ManthaliRamechhap Airport[9]
PhapluPhaplu Airport
RaraTalcha Airport
RumjatarRumjatar Airport
RukumRukumkot AirportTerminated[7]
RukumRukum Salle AirportTerminated[7]
SanphebagarSanphebagar AirportTerminated
SimikotSimikot Airport
SyangbocheSyangboche AirportTerminated

Codeshare agreements

Tara Air has a codeshare agreement with its mother company Yeti Airlines.[10]

Fleet

Tara Air's fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of June 2022):[11][12][13]

Tara Air fleet
Aircraft In Fleet Orders Passengers Notes
C Y Total
Dornier 228 2 — 0 19 19
de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter 2 — 0 19 19
Viking Air DHC-6-400 Twin Otter 1 — 0 18 18
Pilatus PC-6 Porter 2 — 0 7 7
Total 7 —

Accidents and incidents

Tara Air has been considered one of the "most unsafe airlines" due to several significant incidents.[13]

  • On 26 May 2010, a DHC-6 Twin Otter took off from Birendranagar Airport in Surkhet heading for Talcha Airport in Rara with 18 passengers and 3 crew on board. At 10 am the aircraft had to make an emergency landing at Birendranagar Airport after its cabin door suddenly opened five minutes after take-off. Tara Air officials said that the cabin attendant managed to lock the door immediately after it opened to avert any possible mishaps.[14]
  • On 21 September 2012, a DHC-6 Twin Otter en route from Dolpa to Nepalgunj was damaged during takeoff when the pilot lost directional control. No one was hurt in the incident.[18]
  • On 24 February 2016, Tara Air Flight 193 went missing shortly after take off whilst traveling to Pokhara-Jomsom. It was later found that the aircraft crashed into the mountainous northern region killing 23 people including 2 babies and 3 crew members.[19]
  • On 1 December 2021, a Tara Air DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft had a tyre burst upon landing at Bajura Airport. While no one was injured, a video of passengers pushing the aircraft off the runway, as there was no suitable vehicle at the airport, went viral.[21]
  • On 29 May 2022, Tara Air Flight 197 lost contact with ATC 12 minutes after takeoff from Pokhara Airport. The wreckage was found 20 hours later on the side of a mountain in Sanosware, Mustang District; none of the 22 on board survived.[22]

Notes
  1. Tara Air has no registered ICAO code allocated, but uses 'TRA' on scheduling, ticketing and baggage (as an official ICAO code would be used). However, officially, the ICAO Code 'TRA' is allocated to Transavia.[2]

References
  1. "Airline Code Search Result". Av Codes. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  2. "Flight Schedule". Tara Air. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  3. "Profile on Tara Air | CAPA". Centre for Aviation. Retrieved 2013-06-08.
  4. "About Us". Tara Air. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  5. "About Us". Tara Air. Archived from the original on 2013-05-09. Retrieved 2013-06-08.
  6. "Explore Nepal Archived 2011-10-30 at the Wayback Machine." (Archive) Tara Air. Retrieved on 29 December 2011. "Tara Air Pvt. Ltd. Tilganga, Kathmandu, GPO Box 20011"
  7. "Route Map". Tara Air. Archived from the original on 12 November 2010.
  8. "Tara Air starts flight to Bhojpur". The Himalayan Times. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  9. "Domestic airline companies issue travel alert for passengers". The Himalayan Times. April 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  10. "Lukla Tenzing Hillary Airport". FlightRadar24. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  11. "Tara Air to merge with Yeti Airlines for providing better service". Aviation Nepal. 26 August 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  12. "Tara Air". rz jets. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  13. Asquith, James. "The 2019 List Of The Most Dangerous Airlines In The World". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-12-19.
  14. Nepalnews.com, accessed December 6, 2010
  15. Aviation Safety Network
  16. "All passengers killed in Nepal plane crash". BBC News. 2010-12-16. Retrieved 2010-12-16.
  17. Hradecky, Simon. "Accident: Tara D228 at Simikot on Jun 23rd 2011, hard landing results in runway excursion and gear collapse". Aviation Herald. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  18. "Accident description". Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  19. "Plane crashes in Nepal midway through 19-minute flight; 23 feared dead". CNN. 24 February 2016.
  20. "Tara Air's Plane Slipped Off At Ramechhap Airport". Spotlight Nepal. 22 April 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  21. Cost, Ben (7 December 2021). "Passengers forced to push plane down runway after tire ruptures". New York Post. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  22. "Twin Otter in Nepal im Himalaya abgestürzt". aeroTELEGRAPH (in Swiss High German). 29 May 2022. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2022.

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