The national flag carrier Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) hasn’t received flight permission since 5 years of application request to the Chinese government.
The corporation requested for the flight approval to Guangzhou where the flow of Nepali passengers is high. The air service agreement (ASA) between Nepal and China government has already been established however, the Chinese side hasn’t provided green signal yet.
NAC has already built its regional office at China 2 years ago but it remained closed after failing to receive flight approval. But now, the office has been re-opened as per the information from the NAC officials.
Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) didn’t provide Airline Operator’s Certificate (AOC) to Nepal Airlines who sought the permission for Guangzhou flights.
NAC insists that Chinese government hasn’t started ground handling preparations. The Chinese side informed NAC that they were recently reviewing documents and would give final information by the end of May, 2019.
The national flag carrier will conduct 3 weekly flights if the approval comes within the end of May. NAC can operate flights soon after receiving the green signal with its Airbus A320 series aircraft.
After the failure of repeated request from Nepal Airlines, the diplomatic approach is being made to receive the AOC for China flights.
At present, 6 airlines from China namely Air China, Cathay Dragon, China eastern, China Southern, Sichuan and Tibet Airlines are operating flights to Kathmandu. However, no any Nepali airlines are flying to China.
As per the ASA, Nepal can operate flights to 7 cities of China with total of 70 flights. The agreement includes flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Lhasa, Guangzhou, Kunming, Chengdu and Xian.
