KATHMANDU: Himalaya Airlines inaugurated its direct flight to Shanghai, China today.

A Himalaya Airlines aircraft departed from Tribhuvan International Airport at 9:20 am bound for Shanghai with 137 passengers on board. The return flight is scheduled to land at Tribhuvan International Airport at 9:00 pm today with passengers. The flight duration from Kathmandu to Shanghai is approximately 5 hours and 20 minutes.

According to the airline, regular flights to Shanghai will operate every Saturday. This marks the first direct flight from Himalaya Airlines to Shanghai, expanding the airline’s services to nine different cities in China.

During a news conference held today at Tribhuvan International Airport to announce the inaugural flight, Bijay Shrestha, Vice-Chairperson of Himalaya Airlines, mentioned that the direct flight to Shanghai, a major business and tourism hub, would enhance the bilateral relations between Nepal and China. He expressed optimism that the new route would contribute to attracting more Chinese tourists to Nepal.

Pratap Babu Tiwari, General Manager of Tribhuvan International Airport, also shared his belief that the number of Chinese tourists visiting Nepal would rise in the coming days as flights from China gradually expand after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Xie Yu, the Economic and Commercial Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Nepal, emphasized that the Kathmandu-Shanghai flight by Himalaya Airlines would strengthen bilateral relations and be significant from a business perspective.

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