February 17: Himalaya Airlines, a Nepal-China joint venture company, has resumed commercial flights to Dubai starting from February 14.
The first flight after a long gap departed from Tribhuvan International Airport at 22:36 hours (local time) and landed at Dubai International Airport (DXB) at 01:40 hours (local time). The return flight from Dubai departed at 04:10 hours (local time) the next day and landed in Kathmandu at 09:25 hours (local time) on February 15, the airline said in a statement.
As the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic has largely subsided, the UAE has opened up for visitors with COVID-19 safety protocols resulting into substantial increase in passenger flow both ways on KTM-DXB-KTM route.
The airline company informed that it has resumed commercial flights to Dubai International Airport and will conduct three flights per week.
“Kathmandu-Dubai flights are scheduled to fly every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday and will depart from Dubai on every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday,” the statement reads.
Zhou Enyong, president of Himalaya Airlines, had personally handed over the boarding passes to the first three passengers along with a special souvenir kit at the check-in counter on February 14. The airlines marking the special occasion, provided all passengers on both outbound and inbound flights with a special travel amenity kit on board.
“With all the constraints of COVID-19 pandemic, resuming flight operations to our scheduled destinations has been indeed challenging for us. However, with the easing of travel ban and quarantine restrictions, we are all geared up to rebuild our network with the UAE, complying with mandatory health protocols of civil aviation authorities and government agencies,” the statement quoted Zhou Enyong as saying.
The airlines first took off to Dubai International Airport on April 28, 2017 connecting with Abu Dhabi via free shuttle bus for passengers. However with increased passenger flow, direct flights to Abu Dhabi International Airport was initiated on March 31, 2019.
The airline has appointed Hello Himalaya Travel & Tourism LLC, Dubai as its General Sales Agents (GSA) for passenger handling in the United Arab of Emirates, responsible for the airline’s sales and marketing, market development, reservations and ticketing services for the UAE market.
