Kathmandu, June 16

Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has completed preparations to operate commercial flights to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in China.

As per the business plan of NAC for the two new wide-body Airbus A330-200 aircraft, documentation processes have already been completed for flights to China. According to Navaraj Koirala, joint spokesperson for NAC, all the documentation processes have been completed.

“All the required documents have been submitted to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

Hopefully they will respond by the end of June,” Koirala said, adding, “CAAC is positive towards our proposal.” Flight schedules will be decided and bookings will open after getting CAAC’s permission, he further added. Generally, CAAC responds within 10 days from the submission of documents.

As China is the second largest market for the country’s tourism industry, regular flight operation to China is expected to boost the tourism sector.

Moreover, it is also expected to bring in more Chinese tourists in 2020, thus supporting Visit Nepal Year 2020 campaign. “If everything goes according to plan, flights to China will begin soon,” Koirala said adding, “Besides, we are preparing to operate commercial flights to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and Seoul in South Korea.”

Prior to this, NAC had announced about beginning flights to Japan from June. However, due to shortage of passengers NAC postponed its flight to August. NAC hopes a similar situation does not arise and flights to China will operate smoothly.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation is going to revise the air services agreement with China in July. The agreement will allow airline companies of both countries to operate flights in any airport of respective countries.

Currently, the national flag carrier operates flights to Delhi, Doha, Dubai, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Mumbai, and Bangalore along with domestic flights to 25 districts across the country.