The airlines in October 2019 had started the Kathmandu-Beijing flight, making it the first-ever direct commercial flight between Kathmandu and Beijing, the capital cities of Nepal and China, respectively. However, the Covid-19 pandemic forced the airlines to discontinue the route in March 2020.
According to Vijay Shrestha, Vice President of Himalaya Airlines, the reoperation flight took place on Tuesday, the regular flight will be Kathmandu-Beijing-Kathmandu every Saturday from February. "We will fly Airbus 319 aircraft with a capacity of 144 passengers on this route," said Shrestha. Established in 2014, Himalaya Airlines is a Sino-Nepal joint venture formed after an agreement between Tibet Aviation Development & Investment Company Ltd. (TADIC) and Yeti World Investment Pvt. Ltd. Travel trade entrepreneurs express their hope that the resumption of direct flights between Kathmandu and Beijing will contribute significantly to the growth of Chinese visitors in Nepal. "It is the most positive development for Nepali tourism," said Bishwesh Shrestha, owner of C&K Travels which specializes in Chinese tourists, "As soon as volume increases, we expect Himalaya Airlines to increase the frequency of flights also." Nepali tour operators say they are hopeful of a huge surge in Chinese tourist arrivals in Nepal in 2023. With the normalization of flights with China, Nepal can expect at least 100,000 Chinese tourists in 2023, they said. Tour operators specializing in Chinese tourists say they are getting a lot of inquiries from the northern neighbor currently. "In fact, FITs (free independent travelers) have already started coming to Nepal," said Shrestha. In 2022, tourist arrivals reached over 600,000 without any significant contribution from China, which was the second-largest tourist source market for Nepal prior to the pandemic. Most of the flights from China to Nepal have remained suspended after the northern neighbor suspended outbound tourism since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic-related travel restrictions began in early 2020 in Nepal and across the world, China was the second largest source market for Nepal after India as the country welcomed 169,543 tourists from the northern neighbor. Nepali Ambassador to China Bishnu Pukar Shrestha has also said that the resumption of the Kathmandu-Beijing flight will help tourism promotion and people-to-people contacts in both countries. In an exclusive interview with China's Global Times, Shrestha said, "There is an increase in the visa applications by Chinese people, he said. With China reopening its borders this year, it is hopeful that more Chinese people will visit Nepal and will enjoy the natural heritages of Nepal."
