BB Airways (BBW, Kathmandu) is planning to restart operations within four to five months after the company will have finalised maintenance of its recently acquired ex-Nepal Airlines B757-200, Aviation Nepal has reported.

The dormant privately-owned carrier signed a contract for the purchase of 9N-ACA (msn 23850) for NPR145 million (USD1.41 million) in October 2017, but the transaction has only been finalised recently.

BB Airways expects that all necessary repairs to the 30-year-old Boeing twinjet, which was last active in October 2016, will cost around NPR50 million. Once the aircraft is operational, the carrier plans to deploy it on international services out of Kathmandu to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Doha Hamad International, Delhi International and Malaysia. The airline also plans to add a second aircraft and launch flights to Japan and Korea in the near future.

BB Airways briefly operated regional Asian flights in 2012/13 using a B757-200 wet-leased from the now-defunct Cambodian operator, TonléSap Airlines (Phnom Penh).