After nearly decades of stagnation, Nepal Airlines is finally expanding its wings, adding new aircrafts in its fleet. Following the inclusion of two new Airbuses, Nepal Airlines has enhanced its image as a reliable airline.

The announcement by finance minister Bishnu Paudel to allow Nepal Airlines to purchase two wide-body aircraft in the coming fiscal year is another major stride in the history of Nepal’s aviation.

With the appointment Sugat Ratna Kansakar, who played a key role in purchasing two narrow body airbuses, as a managing director a year ago, Nepal Airlines has come up with a new plan for the expansion of the airlines services.

From the first day of his appointment, managing director Kansakar has been pursuing work to add two wide-body aircraft to Nepal Airlines to expand its scheduled flights to long distances, including Europe, Japan and China.

As Nepal is planning to bring two million tourists by 2020,  the target cannot be achieved without a strong national flag carrier. The recent experiences have shown that Nepal cannot bring more tourists depending on foreign airlines only, as they are more interested in profits rather than tourists.

As Nepal does not have direct flights to Europe and Japan, the cost for passengers to fly to and from Nepal is expensive. Till the resumption of flights by Nepal Airlines to New Delhi sector, the price was three times higher than the normal fair.

Despite having the experience and capability of operating international flights successfully for years, adding two wide body aircraft in the Fleet of Nepal Airlines had not materialized for a long time.