Kathmandu, October 30: Himalaya Airlines has conducted its maiden direct flight between Kathmandu and Beijing flight on Sunday (Oct 27).
This is also the first-ever commercial flight between Kathmandu and Beijing, the capital cities of Nepal and China, respectively.
Some 59 passengers were on board from Kathmandu to Beijing, and 70 passengers from Beijing to Kathmandu in the inaugural flight H9 665, it is learnt. The flight will be conducted three days a week – Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
Vice-Chairperson of Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ms Luo Mei and Ambassador of Nepal to China Leela Mani Paudyal, among other high-level officials from the Chinese government, welcomed the arrival of the flight at Beijing’s Daxing International Airport.
The direct air service between the capital cities of the two neighbouring nations is expected to take the civil aviation cooperation between them to a whole new level. Similarly, it, according to experts, could go a long way in promoting the bilateral relations in trade, tourism and investment.
“The aerial connection will ship over 40,000 Chinese passengers a year to Nepal to spend money on travel or any other business venture. This could well help bolster the tourism industry and other economic activities in Nepal,” said the president of Himalaya Airlines Zhou Enyong.
When it comes to the tourism sector, in particular, this important connectivity may contribute to achieve the target of bringing 500,000 Chinese travellers for VNY 2020.
