June 7: Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has postponed its flights to Osaka by two months due to lack of sufficient passengers travelling to Japan.

The flag carrier of Nepal had earlier announced to operate flights to Osaka from July 3.

NAC said in a statement that the flights to Osaka have been pushed back due to insufficient passengers.

The airline further said it decided to reschedule the flights as the months of July and August are off season for travellers visiting Japan.  

NAC had decided to resume flights to Japan after 12 years with the newly purchased Airbus A330-200 wide-body aircraft.   

The airline had scheduled three flights a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays to Kansai International Airport in Osaka from Tribhuvan International Airport.

The Airbus A330-200 wide-body aircraft of NAC has 274 seats with 18 business class and 256 economic class configurations.

Nawaraj Koirala, deputy spokesperson of NAC, informed New Business Age that the airline will postpone Osaka flights until the start of the new tourism season.    

He further said that the airline is planning to start flights to Osaka from September.

“NAC is planning to start its flights to Osaka and Narita International Airport simultaneously from September,” he added.

NAC had to cancel its flights to Japan 12 years back in 2007 due to lack of sufficient fleet.

Nepal and Japan signed a new agreement for fight operation on July 9, 2018. According to the agreement, Japan and Nepal have decided to operate 14 direct flights per week between the two countries.