An airliner crashed this morning in Nepal, killing 18 of the 19 people onboard. Interestingly the plane wasn’t performing a passenger flight, but rather the aircraft was being ferried for maintenance, with everyone onboard being an employee of the airline…
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Aircraft crashed on takeoff from Kathmandu, Nepal
This incident happened today (July 24, 2024), and involves a 21-year-old Saurya Airlines CRJ-200 with the registration code 9N-AME. The plane was scheduled to operate the short 91-mile route from from Kathmandu (KTM) to Pokhara (PKR).
This wasn’t a regularly scheduled flight, but rather the plane was being ferried to the airport for maintenance. There were 19 people onboard, and they were all employees of the airline.
Shortly after 11AM local time, the aircraft took off from runway 2 at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. Immediately after takeoff, the jet banked sharply to the right, and crashed into the ground around 200 meters from the runway, causing a huge fire. There’s even video footage of the incident (which some people may find to be disturbing).
Sadly 18 people onboard lost their lives, while the captain was rushed to the hospital and survived. The captain is reportedly in stable condition, and primarily has an eye injury.
An investigation is now being performed into what happened. I’m curious if the aircraft being ferried to maintenance was just a coincidence, or if the aircraft had some known issue that was being addressed, which may have contributed to this.
This was Saurya Airlines’ only aircraft
Odds are that most OMAAT readers haven’t heard of Saurya Airlines. The airline is based in Kathmandu and was founded roughly a decade ago. The airline operates domestic flights within Nepal, so this isn’t an international airline, at least not for regularly scheduled passenger flights.
The carrier’s fleet consisted of just a single CRJ-200, which was acquired back in 2017 (the plane used to fly for Independence Air in the United States back in the day).
What a tragic loss, for the airline to lose its single aircraft, and much worse, to lose 18 of its staff onboard. Simply awful.
Bottom line
A Saurya Airlines CRJ-200 crashed this morning while departing Kathmandu, Nepal. The jet had 19 employees onboard, and was being ferried for maintenance. Moments after takeoff, the aircraft banked sharply to the right, and crashed into the ground, leading to a huge fire.
My thoughts are with the families of those onboard, as well as with the captain, that he makes a full recovery…
Tragic. Awful. They are resting in peace.
Not the easiest part of the world to fly in to begin with. This is indeed sad. Kathmandu is a very interesting city to visit. Spent some time there earlier this year and really enjoyed it.
RIP
I guess he won't be getting a raise anytime soon.
Classy.
Thanks John, it's people like you that make the world so wonderful to live in with your exceptional and intelligent comments!
I'm sure you are a delight to be around in the parties that you throw in your aunt's basement because your parents didn't even want to keep you.
Yes, of course…because the only thing that matters in situations like this is money.