Kathmandu, November 5, 2017: ‘Aviation Museum’ has opened in a grounded aircraft at Sinamangal, Kathmandu. The museum established from the private level has come into operation from Saturday.
The Bed Upreti Trust, a non-profit organisation, established the museum in cooperation with the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). Indonesian Airlines captain Bed Upreti invested Rs 70 million to establish the museum which has been taken as the distinct type of museum in the world.
An airbus operated by the Turkish Air overshot the runway at Tribhuvan International Airport in course of landing on March 4, 2015, forcing the TIA to suspend its flights for four days.
It had been just eight months that the advanced Airbus 330-300 had started flying when it became grounded at TIA. The market value of this 440-seater is around 26 billion.
No aviation museum in the world, not even the biggest aviation museum in the Washington DC, United States of America displays this type of advanced and expensive airbus, Upreti claimed. He hoped that the museum would encourage the younger generation to seek a career in aviation sector, provide information about the history of aviation, create awareness about the challenges and opportunities in this filed, attract tourists and provide knowledge and entertainment to Nepali and foreign visitors.
The museum opens from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm every day and the entry free for a Nepali is Rs 300 and Rs 600 for a foreign national. Students from grade 9 to 12 are allowed to enter free of cost while students of other level will get 50 percent discount.
A formal inauguration ceremony of the museum will be held soon, the Trust said in a press meet here Saturday.
On the occasion, CAAN deputy director- general Birendra Prasad Shrestha said the construction of the museum was a part of its own campaign to get students interested in the aviation sector in Nepal.
The museum area covers 800 sq feet of land owned by the CAAN. As per the ten-year agreement reached between the two parties, the museum shall pay Rs 6,000 per square meter annually to the CAAN.
The museum features over 350 miniature models of aircrafts ranging from the Wright Brothers’ first aircraft to fighter planes from the World War I and II, the glass cockpit Airbus 330 and other commercial airlines. There is also a real-life Ecureil helicopter in the Museum ground. More, the museum provides other information and knowledge about the aviation sector.
This is not the first time the Trust invested in the aviation museum. It already operates such type of museum in Dhangadhi in partnership with the CAAN.
Nepali and foreign technicians had worked for over months to disintegrate the parts of the grounded airbus, shift them to the place where the museum has been established and rejoin them. It took nine months to establish the museum.
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