Nepal Airlines (RA, Kathmandu) has secured Nepalese government approval for its planned flights to Seoul Incheon, Osaka Kansai, and Riyadh, to be operated with two A330-200s.
According to The Kathmandu Post, the airline plans to operate out of Kathmandu to Riyadh 7x weekly and 4x weekly to each of Seoul Incheon and Osaka Kansai. Flights will be launched after the airline adds Airbus wide-body jets in the first half of 2018. All operations are pending approvals from the respective authorities in the destination countries.
"Nepal Airlines has to apply for operating authorization at the civil aviation ministries or authorities of the respective countries," Mukesh Dangol from the Nepalese Civil Aviation Ministry told the newspaper.
The airline intended to operate to Tokyo instead of Osaka, but this was not possible as the air service agreement between Nepal and Japan only allows direct flights to the latter airport. Nepal Airlines is also mulling flights to London but this, in turn, is blocked by the fact that the carrier is blacklisted by the European Commission. The state-owned operator has also applied for landing rights at Guangzhou, its first destination in China, and mulls expanding to Australia.
According to the ch-aviation capacity module, the airline's current international network includes Delhi International, Dubai International, Doha Hamad International, Kuala Lumpur International, Bengaluru International, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Hong Kong International, and Mumbai International.
