Himalaya Airlines carries out proving flight

KATHMANDU: Himalaya Airlines, a Nepal-China joint venture, carried out a proving flight on Wednesday along the Kathmandu-Delhi-Kathmandu route with its new Airbus 320-214 ahead of their start of commercial operations.

According to a statement released by the Airlines, the Airbus that is registered as 9N-ALM in Nepal, made its first flight to demonstrate that it was ready for the commercial operations in all aspects.

The flight was conducted under the inspection of inspectors representing the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). In the flight, it passed the CAAN Air Operator Certificate Requirements, which are as per ICAO standards, the statement added.

The Airline informed that its first commercial flights would be carried out to Delhi of India and Doha of Qatar in April.

The statement further said it would also conduct flights to Lhasa, Chengdu and Beijing of China in the near future.

The aircraft was welcomed on March 9. It had also carried Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, his wife Radhika Shakya and the delegation to Beijing for his official visit to China on March 20.

The company would aim to acquire 15 Airbus 320s in the next five years and would introduce A330 Airbus family for direct flights to Japan, Korea, Europe, Australia, and America, the statement added.