Marking the first-ever capital-to-capital direct flight between Nepal and China, Himalaya Airlines is starting its flight to Beijing from Sunday.
The flight will depart from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) at 8:30 am local time and reach Daxing International Airport at 4:10 pm local time, according to the private airliner. “The return flight leaves at 5:40 pm and reaches Kathmandu at 9:45 pm the same day.”
Himalaya Airlines will operate two weekly flights on Tuesdays and Fridays till November 8 using an Airbus A320 jet, it confirmed, adding that from November 10, it plans to operate three weekly flights on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. “The Kathmandu-Beijing flight is 5 hours 30 minutes long.”
Himalaya Airlines, earlier planned to operate Airbus A319 aircraft on the Kathmandu-Beijing route but the plan to lease the plane has been postponed due to new rule in the Foreign Investment and Transfer of Technology Act (FITTA). According to the act, the foreign direct investment (FDI) proposal needs to be approved even for leasing planes. Thus, the airlines is flying Airbus A320 jet on Kathmandu-Beijing route.
“All preparations for the Beijing service have been completed,” said vice-president of administration of Himalaya Airlines Vijay Shrestha. “We have targeted to bring around 40,000 tourists from China annually,” he said, adding that the airlines plans to contribute to the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign.
Along with Beijing, Himalaya Airlines is also preparing to fly to other Chinese destinations including Guiyang, Changsha and Nanchang from November.
Though, five Chinese carriers including Air China, China Southern, China Eastern, Sichuan Airlines and Tibet Airlines operate flights to Nepal, Himalaya Airlines will become the first airlines to fly to China. Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) – that used to operate services to the Japanese city of Osaka via Shanghai until 2008 under fifth freedom rights – is also planning to fly to Beijing soon.
Nepal and China – in July – signed a revised bilateral air services agreement, which allows 98 weekly flights between the two countries on a reciprocal basis, an increase from the existing 70 flights per week.
Since tourist arrivals from China witnessed the strongest growth of 46.8 per cent to 153,602 in 2018 also due to increased flight frequencies between the two countries, the flights of Himalaya Airlines and Nepal Airlines Corporation is expected to increase the Chinese tourist arrivals in 2020, when Nepal will celebrate Visit Nepal Year 2020 (VNY2020).
The flight will depart from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) at 8:30 am local time and reach Daxing International Airport at 4:10 pm local time, according to the private airliner. “The return flight leaves at 5:40 pm and reaches Kathmandu at 9:45 pm the same day.”
Himalaya Airlines will operate two weekly flights on Tuesdays and Fridays till November 8 using an Airbus A320 jet, it confirmed, adding that from November 10, it plans to operate three weekly flights on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. “The Kathmandu-Beijing flight is 5 hours 30 minutes long.”
Himalaya Airlines, earlier planned to operate Airbus A319 aircraft on the Kathmandu-Beijing route but the plan to lease the plane has been postponed due to new rule in the Foreign Investment and Transfer of Technology Act (FITTA). According to the act, the foreign direct investment (FDI) proposal needs to be approved even for leasing planes. Thus, the airlines is flying Airbus A320 jet on Kathmandu-Beijing route.
“All preparations for the Beijing service have been completed,” said vice-president of administration of Himalaya Airlines Vijay Shrestha. “We have targeted to bring around 40,000 tourists from China annually,” he said, adding that the airlines plans to contribute to the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign.
Along with Beijing, Himalaya Airlines is also preparing to fly to other Chinese destinations including Guiyang, Changsha and Nanchang from November.
Though, five Chinese carriers including Air China, China Southern, China Eastern, Sichuan Airlines and Tibet Airlines operate flights to Nepal, Himalaya Airlines will become the first airlines to fly to China. Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) – that used to operate services to the Japanese city of Osaka via Shanghai until 2008 under fifth freedom rights – is also planning to fly to Beijing soon.
Nepal and China – in July – signed a revised bilateral air services agreement, which allows 98 weekly flights between the two countries on a reciprocal basis, an increase from the existing 70 flights per week.
Since tourist arrivals from China witnessed the strongest growth of 46.8 per cent to 153,602 in 2018 also due to increased flight frequencies between the two countries, the flights of Himalaya Airlines and Nepal Airlines Corporation is expected to increase the Chinese tourist arrivals in 2020, when Nepal will celebrate Visit Nepal Year 2020 (VNY2020).
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