Kathmandu, February 6:

The maiden flight of China Southern Airlines (CSA) landed at Tribhuvan International Airport on Monday night, carrying 160 passengers from Guangzhou.

Representatives Gorkha Travels, the sole agent of CSA in Nepal, Nepal Tourism Board, and civil aviation officials welcomed the passengers at the airport with garlands and khadas.

CSA, China’s largest airlines in terms of fleet size, will connect Kathmandu with Guangzhou of China, twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. The airlines will be flying with a 198-seater Boeing 757-200 aircraft in this route.

Among those arrived by the maiden flight, 102 were Chinese tourists and 28 media persons and the remaining were Chinese and Nepali businessmen and students, according to Fox Tours & Travels, the tour and sales agent for CSA and strategic business partner of Gorkha Travels.

Deepak Bhatta, executive chairman of Gorkha Travels, informed that Fox Tours is soon launching a package for Chinese tourists learning English in Nepal. More than 1,000 Chinese tourists are visiting Nepal in a month, he said.

“The airline’s operation is expected to contribute for a growth in Chinese tourists arrivals as well as further strengthen business ties between Nepal and China,” Bhatta added.

Based in China’s major trading and industrial hub, CSA flies to 110 destinations across the globe from Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province. It also enjoys the proximity of the affluent city of Senzhen and Macao and Hong Kong SAR, where thousands of Nepalis work and study.

CSA became the fourth airlines to launch its operations to Nepal in a row in less than four months. The airline has more than 300 aircrafts in its fleet flying to more than 80 cities around the globe.