Nepal reestablished the direct air link with Sri Lanka after more than three decades, with the newly-launched Himalaya Airlines making its maiden commercial flight to Colombo on Tuesday.

The national flag carrier, in its previous avatar as Royal Nepal Airlines, used to operate direct flights to Colombo during the 1980s. But the carrier suspended its operations following the armed movement by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka. There has been no direct air links between the two countries since. 

As there are no direct flights connecting the two countries, 90 percent of Sri Lankan visitors enter Nepal overland from Bhairahawa to visit Buddhist sites in Lumbini. 

The chartered flight took off from the Tribhuvan International Airport at 9:05am. The airline had offered the round-trip fare of Rs55,000 for business class and Rs35,000 for economy. 

Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Wu Chuntai, Sri Lankan Ambassador to Nepal WM Senevirathna and Cheng Yiru, chairman of Tibet Airlines, jointly launched the flight to Sri Lanka. Tibet Airlines holds 48.99 percent of equity capital of the company, whereas the Nepali side holds 51.01 percent. 

Vijay Shrestha, vice-president of the Hiamalaya Airlines, Administration said, “We are glad to offer the promotional offer to our passengers, on the occasion of the Nepali New Year, for them to celebrate the eve in Colombo. We are very thankful to our travel agencies for promoting this offer and getting us passengers at a very short notice.” The plan to establish direct flights on the Kathmandu-Colombo route was revived during the 18th Saarc Summit held in Kathmandu on November 26, 2014. Subsequently, the Sri Lankan government officially applied for authorisation to conduct daily flights between the two countries with Colombo-based carrier Mihin Lanka planning to start services.

In March 2015, the Tourism Ministry had issued an operating authorisation to the carrier. But the plan was abandoned after last year’s devastating earthquake. 

Sri Lanka is the fourth largest tourist source market for Nepal after India, China and the US. A total of 37,546 Sri Lankans visited Nepal in 2014.

The Himalaya has, however, postponed its plan to operate flights to Delhi and Doha. The airline had scheduled its first destinations at Delhi and Doha, beginning on Tuesday. 

“Due to some procedural delay, the planned operations on Delhi and Doha have been postponed for a few weeks,” said Salina Nakarmi, the airline’s brand officer. “If things pan out well, we will be operating flights on those sectors by April.” After Delhi and Doha, the airliner plans to fly to Lhasa, Chengdu and Beijing in China. The airline had acquired its first aircraft Airbus 320 on March 9. It aims to expand its fleet to 15 Airbus 320s in the next five years and connect Kathmandu with various cities in Asia and beyond. The company will introduce long-haul wide body aircraft of A330 family in due course of time for direct flights to Japan, Korea, Europe, Australia, and North America.