Kathmandu, December 11

Himalaya Airlines has resumed its commercial flights to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

After a long gap due to discontinuation of labour visa permit to Malaysia, the airline company has again resumed the flights from Monday.

The airline company had started operating flights to Kuala Lumpur from February 10, 2017. However, the flights were suspended from November last year.

According to the company, the first flight after resumption of the service departed from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) at 9:35 am (local time) on Monday for Kuala Lumpur International Airport carrying a total of 150 passengers.

With the resumption of flights in this sector, the airline company aims at promoting and capturing the outbound tourism potential of the region in Nepal. Likewise, the company has also said that with these new flights, the company aims to boost the connectivity of Nepal among Asia-Pacific region.

Himalaya Airlines' Airbus 320- 214, with Nepal Registration no. 9N-ALV. Photo courtesy: Himalaya Airlines

“We are excited to re-launch the direct flights between Kuala Lumpur and Kathmandu. We hope this will boost the significant commercial opportunity that exists for travellers in both the nations, as well as enhance trade and tourism,” said Vijay Shrestha, vice president of the airline company.

He further said that a strong demand from both the markets on the route and with the revised memorandum of understanding between the governments of Nepal and Malaysia hint at the possibility of increased passenger traffic in this sector.

Himalaya Airlines has also recently started commercial flights to two destinations in China.

Currently, the airline is flying to seven destinations, including Abu Dhabi, Dammam, Doha, Dhaka, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, Guiyang with its fleet of three A320-214 series of narrow-body aircraft.

As per Shrestha, the airline company plans to add three A319-115 series aircraft to its fleet by 2020 and expand its services to Lhasa.