Himalaya Airlines, a Nepal-China Joint Venture, successfully launched its scheduled flight to Yangon, Myanmar Friday carrying passengers directly to the destination as an initiative to strengthen direct connections of about 300,000 Nepalese in Myanmar to visit their homeland.

“The first scheduled flight flew to its fourth destination from Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu at 10:55 hours (Local Time) and touched down at Yangon International Airport, Yangon at 14:15 hours (Local Time) bringing both cities closer to boost tourism, trade and investment opportunities between Nepal and Myanmar,” said a press release issued by Himalaya Airlines.

With the launch of twice-weekly passenger service (Monday and Friday), Himalaya Airlines has re-established direct links with Myanmar after more than 2 decades. Lwin Oo, the Ambassador of Myanmar to Nepal, Suresh Acharya, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MOCTCA) and Vijay Shrestha, Vice President- Administration of Himalaya Airlines were also on board amongst the passenger of the first flight.

The airline is also honored to have the oldest passengers on board Sukhdev Poudel of 90 years old and Sushila Bhandari of 84 years old as they are travelling to Myanmar after 40 years.

“We are thrilled to mark another milestone in our commitment to serve Nepalese tourism industry by increasing Nepal’s air connectivity in Asiatic region. With the launch of this route, Himalaya Airlines will enhance its network by providing more choices for travellers in Myanmar and Nepal to conveniently connect within the countries. We are confident we will be able to further position Yangon as a preferred destination through our marketing efforts to promote this route,” said Vijay Shrestha, Vice President- Administration.

The launching airfare for Kathmandu - Yangon- Kathmandu flight starts from NPR 29,600.00 (round trip), applicable government taxes will be extra.

The airline has appointed Unique Asia Travel & Tours Co. Ltd as its General Sales Agents (GSA) for Myanmar and they will be responsible for the airline’s sales and marketing, market development, reservations and ticketing services representing the airline.

The passengers were overwhelmed with the warm welcome of Himalaya Airlines and Nepal Myanmar friendship council.

The flight schedule for Yangon service from February 24, 2017 is as follow:

Flight No.   Days of Operation         From           Departure time     To     Arrival Time

H9 892       Mon / Fri    KTM           10:55 hrs    YGN 14:15 hrs

H9 893       Mon / Fri    YGN 15:15 hrs    KTM 17:15 hrs

Himalaya Airlines, a Nepal- China joint venture, is established in August 2014. Himalaya Airlines, a full service carrier, started its scheduled flight operations from May 31, 2016 flying directly to Doha, Qatar. Currently the airline is making the direct flights to Colombo, Kuala Lumpur, and Yangon on regular basis.

The airline welcomed its first new aircraft Airbus 320 on March 9, 2016 and second aircraft Airbus 320 on January 31, 2017.

In the upcoming months of early 2017, Himalaya Airlines plans to connect to Dammam, Hong Kong, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Chennai and in the later phase, Airlines aims to connect Nepal with Dubai, Bangkok, Beijing, Lhasa and Chengdu.

Over the coming five years, the airline has a target of acquiring 15 aircrafts to connect Kathmandu with various new destinations in Asia and beyond. The Airlines will also introduce long haul wide body aircraft of A330 family in due course of time for the operation of direct flights to Japan, Korea, Europe, Australia, and America.