Kathmandu. Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), the national flag carrier, has started direct flights to Guangzhou of China. The national flag-carrier has operated flights to Kathmandu-Guangzhou since Saturday.

Although the NAC had planned to operate flights to Guangzhou of China from September 22, due to some technical faults, the inaugural flight was delayed only on Saturday afternoon. The inaugural flight to Guangzhou was cancelled when people from different walks of life and a few passengers had already reached Tribhuvan International Airport. The corporation had managed the passengers arriving at the airport.

NAC Spokesperson Manoj Kumar Saha said the plane took off from Kathmandu on Saturday afternoon and returned to Kathmandu from Guangzhou on Sunday carrying one hundred and seven passengers. Regular flights to Guangzhou would operate as per the predetermined schedule.

The corporation has set a schedule to operate three regular flights every week. The first flight will take off on October 26 followed by October 30, October 15 and 6. After that, there will be direct flights to Guangzhou every Sunday, Tuesday and Saturday. According to NAC, the one-way fare from Kathmandu to Guangzhou has been fixed at Rs 30,000 and two-way fare at Rs 50,000.

At present, China Southern is operating regular flights between Kathmandu and Guangzhou. Himalaya Airlines has been operating regular flights from Nepal on this route. It is estimated that the corporation will benefit financially from the Guangzhou flight, which has a majority of Nepalis.

With the flight to Guangzhou, the corporation will now operate regular flights to 11 destinations of nine countries. Currently, Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has two narrow-body and two wide-body aircraft operating international flights to Doha (Qatar), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Dubai (UAE), Hong Kong (UAE), Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore (India), Bangkok (Thailand), Dammam (Saudi Arabia) and Narita (Japan).