KATHMANDU: An Air Arabia flight carrying Nepali nationals from United Arab Emirates (UAE) has arrived in Kathmandu, this evening.

The plane that landed at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) was carrying 168 passengers.

Earlier today, a Myanmar Air Force aircraft carrying 26 stranded Nepali nationals had arrived.

According to Spokesperson at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), Dev Chandra Lal Karna, Myanmar Air Force (MAF 003) aircraft, Fokker 70, had landed at the airport at around 11:00 am.

It has been learnt that the Nepali passengers who arrived from the UAE were not on the government’s priority list and were repatriated to Nepal as a private company had paid off their airfare according to sources.

Nepali nationals on the govt's priority list were told to wait at Sharjah Airport due to airfare issue.

Eight aircraft of Nepal Airlines Corporation and Himalaya Airlines have been designated to operate from June 10 on one-aircraft-one-destination basis, according to joint secretary at MoCTCA, Suresh Acharya.

The evacuation process will be carried out giving top priority to those who have been granted amnesty, whose visas have expired, who have been staying in repatriation centres, who have already received permission to return home, who have lost relatives in Nepal or need to return for attending last rites and other such functions in memory of the departed and lastly, those who have lost their jobs.

The government has set a target of rescuing around 40,000 Nepalis stranded abroad in the first phase.