The national flag carrier Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) will start direct flights to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on April 22, 2022.
The wide-body A330 aircraft will make its inaugural flight to Riyadh, the corporation said. Executive Chairman Yuvraj Adhikari informed us that direct flights will be started in Riyadh.
“The corporation has been operating flights to Riyadh since April 22. It is a matter of great pride for the corporation. After a long effort, the corporation has been allowed to fly to various destinations in Saudi Arabia.
The NAC was recently granted permission to fly to Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah. The General Authority of Civil Aviation of the Riyadh-based Civil Aviation Office authorized two-way flights to the three cities of Jeddah, Dammam and Riyadh. In the first phase, the corporation will operate Kathmandu-Riyadh-Kathmandu twice a week from April 22.
Though it is planned to fly three days a week, at present there are two regular flights a week and soon there will be three regular flights a week. The corporation has succeeded in expanding Riyadh destinations as per the initiative and direction of the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale.
Employees, including the corporation’s executive chairman, arrived in Saudi Arabia in the third week of March to begin the flight permit process. The one-way fare for the Kathmandu-Riyadh destination has been fixed at Rs 37,000.
Corporation spokesperson Archana Khadka said that one-way fares have been fixed at present. The NAC has received a ‘slot’ for both widebody and narrowbody ships to fly to Riyadh.
He informed that the inaugural flight will be conducted by widebody and later regular flights will also be conducted by widebody aircraft.
“We have asked for a flight from a widebody ship, now we fly from a narrowbody, then we fly regularly from a widebody ship again,” he said.
On the flight to this destination, the corporation will provide concessional fares and convenient ‘inflight’ food to the passengers, and on return from Riyadh, passengers will get 40 kg of luggage. The Kathmandu-Riyadh one-way flight will be 6 hours and 15 minutes and the Riyadh-Kathmandu flight will be four hours and 50 minutes.
The flight to Saudi Arabia, a country dominated by Nepali workers, is expected to benefit the corporation financially. There are Nepalis in different destinations in Saudi Arabia in different professions and businesses. It is believed that this destination will be useful as it will be convenient for passengers to come and go through transit from other countries.
With the flight of the NAC carrier to Riyadh, now there will be regular flights to 10 destinations in eight countries. The corporation had earlier been flying to nine destinations in seven countries, including three in India.
The Corporation operates international flights to New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Dubai, Doha, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Japan. Earlier, in Saudi Arabia, Himalayan Airlines has been operating regular flights to Dammam and Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia had earlier allowed the corporation to fly in 2002 and 2020. But due to lack of ships and poor management, the corporation could not go to Saudi. It is said that the corporation was able to fly to Riyadh after a long effort and was very proud to have this opportunity.
The corporation has been playing a historic role as a national flag bearer in expanding diplomatic relations and attracting more and more foreign tourists with the flight of international destinations connecting the pride and identity of the country and the corporation is confident that it will continue in the days to come.
Executive Chairman Adhikari said that the management of the corporation has been working day and night on the improvement of the service and market expansion. He said that many positive changes have been made in the corporation in a short period of time due to the hard work of the management, staff, and support and the corporation is working to make it result-oriented.
In other works as well, with the support of the employees within the corporation and in coordination with the taluk ministry and regulatory body, some result-oriented work has been done, said the chairman.
