Kathmandu: Nepal's national carrier on Monday said it plans to restart flights to its northern neighbour China after the service was suspended nearly a decade ago.
The airlines, a state-owned entity, has sought a landing permit from Chinese authority at Guangzhou international airport as it plans to re-enter the Chinese mainland.
The Nepal Airlines Corporation, had long been operating flights to the Hong Kong, China, until 2008, when it had to suspend flights owing to shortage of aircrafts.
With addition of two more planes over the last two years, the airlines planned to re-enter the Chinese airfield given the growing tourist arrivals from the northern neighbour in recent years. China is the second largest source market for Nepal's tourism after India.
"We are expecting the landing permit from Chinese authority in the next few weeks and we have got information that the process is in the final phase. Maybe, we will get green signal to operate flight to Guangzhou from Kathmandu in a couple of months," said NAC Managing Director Sugat Ratna Kansakar.
Guangzhou destination in China is the region from where most of the Nepalese traders import Chinese goods and they have been requesting for air service from NAC for a long time.
"As it is also the destination for conducting many international connecting flights, there is also the possibility of inflow of more Chinese tourists," said Kansakar.
