KATHMANDU, Dec 25: The founder of Buddha Air, Surendra Bahadur Basnet, passed away today. He was 93. According to the Information Officer of  Buddha Air Dipendra Kumar Karn, Basnet passed away this morning during medication at Medicity Hospital in Lalitpur.

Basnet was born in Salma- Dingla located at Bhojpur. He completed his LLB from Banaras, India. He had played a leadership role in various high positions of the government. He was a judge of the Supreme Court, the first chief Commissioner of Nepal Election Commission, Minister of Law, Justice and Education in 1967, Minister of Finance, Industry, Commerce and Supply in 1968 and founding President of Nepal Press Council.

He became a founding member of Nepal Bar Association. He established Buddha Air and connected Nepal and Nepalis to sky travel through air service at the age of 70. Basnet has two sons and one daughter. The Buddha Air is handled by his eldest son Birendra Bahadur Basnet as managing director. He had contributed to make air travel easy and simple and opened it to the general public.

"Even though he is no longer with us, we will always follow the path shown by him," according to the statement issued by Buddha Air.