Kathmandu, September 1

Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) is preparing to reduce the number of flights to Japan. The national flag carrier had recently started scheduled flights to Japan from August 29 announcing that it would operate three flights a week — Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. However, NAC is preparing to reduce the number of flights to two a week starting from next week. If the decision is implemented then the next flight of NAC to Osaka International Airport on Thursday is likely to be halted.

NAC has informed that it has decided to reduce one flight at present as there are more passengers coming from Japan than those flying there from Nepal. However, NAC is yet to decide on which flight it will be halting for the moment. But the

national flag carrier has informed that if the flights have good occupancy then it will not halt any flight. Meanwhile, it also said that it might operate four flights a week during the Dashain and Tihar festivals.

The flights to Japan are expected to play a significant role in managing the financial crisis that NAC has been facing in recent times. NAC has been facing a financial crisis and has not been able to pay back the debt it had obtained to purchase two Airbus wide-body aircraft. NAC has been struggling to find long-route destinations to operate the wide-body aircraft in a full-fledged manner. It was only after a long effort it was finally able to resume flights to Osaka. Prior to this, Nepal Airlines had operated Osaka flights 12 years ago.

The national flag carrier has also offered a promotional airfare for flights to Osaka to attract passengers. Under this promotional scheme, passengers flying to Japan can buy one-way ticket at Rs 36,999, while the charge for round-trip passengers has been set at Rs 72,814, including value added tax.