Himalaya Airlines carries out test flight to Lhasa

Published On: January 19, 2021 01:41 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, Jan 19: Himalaya Airlines, a Nepal-China joint venture airline, carried out a test flight to Lhasa on Tuesday.

Issuing a statement, the company said that it was the airline’s first high altitude destination. “The test flight operation is in line with the company's commercial plan to introduce scheduled flights to Lhasa during summer of 2021.”

The test flight H9 961 departed from the Tribhuvan International Airport at 07:17AM (local time) and touched down at Lhasa Gonggar International Airport (LXA) at 10:46AM (local time). The return flight H9 962, from Lhasa is scheduled to depart at 15:00PM on the same day and expected to land in Kathmandu at 14:00PM (local time).

“The Himalaya team has been meticulously working on this high altitude operation to Lhasa since last year. Today’s test flight take-off has reinforced commitment to our key guiding principles of safety, team spirit and winning spirit,” the statement quoted Zhou Enyong, President of Himalaya Airlines as saying.

According to the company, the test flight is planned for the verification of RNP-AR approaches besides the conventional approaches at Lhasa Gonggar International Airport which has an elevation of 3570 m equivalent to 11711 ft.