Kathmandu, April 10

A Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) flight departed for Narita, Japan today carrying around 200 Japanese tourists who had been stranded in Nepal.

The NAC aircraft was chartered by the Japanese Embassy in Kathmandu.

After the lockdown this is the second repatriation flight conducted by the national flag carrier.

NAC had commenced its regular commercial flight to Narita on March 2. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic that has spread globally the flights had been halted.

As per Archana Khadka, spokesperson for NAC, the national flag carrier has been receiving requests for such repatriation and cargo flights during the lockdown.

Similarly, Titan Airways, a charter airline company of the United Kingdom, conducted its second flight today taking 248 passengers to London. Along with British nationals, there were citizens from the United States, Poland and Portugal on board the chartered flight.

According to British Ambassador to Nepal Nicola Pollitt, those who have registered but could not get seats on the flight today will be repatriated next week. However, she did not mention the date when the flight will be arranged.

She has further mentioned that the third flight will be the last repatriation flight from Nepal.

The embassy has also requested British nationals who have been stranded in Nepal to be in Kathmandu no later than April 15. Although the embassy had earlier been arranging transportation for British nationals to return to Kathmandu from other areas of the country, it issued a notice on Thursday requesting them to be in Kathmandu on their own no later than April 15. “If you are outside of Kathmandu, we can no longer provide transport back to Kathmandu.

But we can send you a letter that may help you make arrangements,” reads the notice.

There are still a large number of British nationals stuck outside the valley, mostly in Pokhara.

Meanwhile, a Korean Air flight departed for Seoul today carrying 300 Korean tourists stranded in Nepal.

As per Nepal Tourism Board, around 3,000 tourists have been repatriated so far from Nepal.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on April 11, 2020 of The Himalayan Times.