Marking the celebrations of the Chinese New Year Eve, Himalaya Airlines, a Nepal – China joint venture international airline, launched their yet another route to China, connecting Kathmandu to Chongqing, a major tourist city of the People’s Republic of China. Himalaya is the only airline operating direct flights between the two cities with the aim to capture and encourage the tourist influx to both the cities.
Connecting first to Beijing in Oct 2019, the airlines has aggressively moved forward with back-to-back direct flights to cities in China: Beijing, Guiyang, Changsha, Shenzhen and now Chongqing. This new service is expected to provide greater options for both business and leisure travelers.
The maiden flight was inaugurated by Mr. Yogesh Bhattarai – Honorable Minister of Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MOCTCA) with a ribbon cutting ceremony held at Tribhuvan International Airport. Her Excellency Ms. Hou Yanqi, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Nepal, Mr. Kedar Bahadur Adhikari – Secretary of Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Mr. Rajan Pokhrel – Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) and other high ranking Government officials were present at the occasion.
The inaugural flight H9 787 departed from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) at 09:40 hours (local time) and touched down at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (CKG) at 15:26 hours (local time). The return flight from Chongqing is expected to depart at 17:00 hours (local time) and shall arrive at TIA at 19:15 hours (local time), the same day. The early departure and afternoon arrival will provide passengers with more flexibility to plan their itineraries.
