KATHMANDU, MAY 18
Over a year since the country's second international airport commenced international operations, the national flag carrier Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has announced it is set to conduct regular operation to Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) from June 12.
The corporation has announced plans to operate Kathmandu-Kuala Lumpur-Bhairahawa-Kathmandu route flights once a week in the initial phase and then increase the number of flights as per the market's demand and after obtaining permission to fly to other destinations as well.
Issuing a press note today, the corporation has shared that the decision to start flight operations to and from GBIA was made in coordination with the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA). For this, the executive chairman of NAC, among others, had paid courtesy call to the director of Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) and held discussions to conduct regular flights from Malaysia to Bhairahawa.
The corporation is also making preparations to operate a shuttle bus service from Johor Bahru to Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to provide additional service to its passengers.
Kuwait's Jazeera Airlines had started operating international flights from the airport not long after its launch. But lack of passengers prompted the carrier to drop its plans to conduct daily flights from GBIA and reduce the number of flights to three per week.
Himalaya Airlines also started operations from the airport on November 3.
However, both the airlines suspended their international flights from GBIA last month mainly due to poor weather. At present no international airline company is providing services to and from the airport.
A version of this article appears in the print on May 19, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
