The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The recent damage to Drukair plane, A319 Airbus, caused by a freak hailstorm has caused much delays and reshuffling of flight schedules. Although the plane landed safely in Guwahati airport with 90 passengers, however, there is much costly damage to be repaired before the plane can be air worthy again.
Meantime, MoIC Minister,DN Dhungyel, during the 23rd Meet-the-Press, said the government is not in a position to purchase a new aircraft.
The reason for not making a decision to purchase a new aircraft is that there have been cases where passengers travel only seasonally. Therefore, it was found to be economically unviable, at the moment, to purchase a new plane. However, the government will look into the detailed result on the damage to decide on the plane purchase.
Lyonpo DN Dhungyel said the recent mishap is a rare incident for Bhutan, but not for the outside world as it happens sometimes in the airline industry. “Such incident is a natural calamity and not man made,” he said.
The depth of the plane damage is under investigation. The rescheduling of both the Drukair and Bhutan Airline flights was done as soon as the incident occurred.
