Royal Bhutan Airlines received a new ATR 42-600 equipped for low visibility which is expected to minimize flight cancellations due to weather. This new ATR will substitute the existing ATR 42-500, which according to Drukair is 16 years old.
The new aircraft will be operational after 10 days of technical familiarizations amongst pilots.
Registered as JNW in honour of His Royal Highness the Gyalsey, the new ATR aircraft arrived at Paro International Airport this morning from France via New Delhi.
Her Royal Highness Ashi Dechen Yangzom Wangchuck inaugurated the new aircraft.
The new Aircraft with glass cockpit has a digital system, unlike the existing aircraft. With an infrared camera fitted on the nose, the clear vision system has the capacity to generate images of the surrounding landscape in adverse weather conditions. And this feature according to Drukair will decrease flight cancellation.
“Physically the Clear Vision System consists of infrared cameras which are mounted on the front of aircraft. The infrared cameras can penetrate the cloud and see the terrain below. The second enhancement to this is the use of a geographical information system which is stored in the aircraft. With the GPS to get the real-time location, the pilot now can see through the clouds and in darkness,” said Tandi Wangchuk, the CEO of Drukair.
This aircraft has 40 seats amongst which 8 are business class and 32 are economy class.
“In the old ATR we have 48 seats but because of the geographical terrain of the Paro airport, we can never carry 48 passengers out of Paro. The maximum capacity from Paro is 35 to 40. So this time instead of carrying empty seats we decided to have fewer seats, 40 seats. Out of 40 seats, we have made 8 into business class,” he added.
Drukair has been operating the existing ATR since 2011 and has been flying to regional international routes in Nepal, India and Bangladesh and domestic route. The new aircraft will also be used on these routes.
The new ATR costs around USD 18.5 M and Drukair borrowed around USD 13 M from the SAARC Development Fund.
Sangay Chezom
