KATHMANDU, April 23: Nepal's national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), has started its regular flights to Saudi Arabia, for the first time. The airline’s wide body A330 aircraft made its inaugural flight to Riyadh on April 22.
During the inauguration program, Yuvraj Adhikari, Executive Chairman of NAC said that the historic flight to Riyadh was launched overcoming various obstacles. “We are finally making our first launch flight today in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, overcoming various obstacles. Special thanks to all who have contributed to the launch of this historic flight,” said Chairman Adhikari.
Nepal Airlines starts direct flights to Saudi Arabia's Dammam
The inaugural flight was attended by Adhikari, senior officials of various ministries, representatives of various departments and businessmen. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) had recently given permission to NAC to operate flights to Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
The one-way fare for Kathmandu-Riyadh destination has been fixed at Rs 37,000. NAC spokesperson Archana Khadka said that at present, only one-way fares have been fixed. The NAC has received a slot for both wide body and narrow body ships to fly to Saudi Arabia.
According to NAC, the one-way flight from Kathmandu to Riyadh will be six hours and 15 minutes and the Riyadh-Kathmandu flight will be four hours and 50 minutes. On the flight to this destination, the corporation will provide concessional fares, convenient 'inflight' food to the passengers and each passenger can carry a 40 kg of luggage for free.
