World / Nepal to allow international flights to resume from August 17: Govt

Kathmandu: As a number of countries have restarted their flight operations, the Nepal government on Monday decided to resume its domestic and international flight services from August 17. The major decision in this regard was taken at a meeting held at Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s residence today.

Earlier, there were reports that the Nepal government was planning to resume domestic and international flight operations from August but the exact date was not confirmed.

The country is planning to resume its flight services at a time when it is making steady progress in its fight against the coronavirus outbreak.

Notably, the Tourism Ministry is working on the plan to restart flight services. The first round of flights will be to and from capital Kathmandu.

As per updates on July 16, Nepal’s coronavirus tally reached 17,344 with the detection of 167 new cases. The virus has so far claimed 39 lives in the country.

In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Nepal government had suspended the air travel in mid-March. However, charter flights were operated to deliver medical equipment and for repatriation purpose.

After the flight services resume in the country, it is expected to give a much-needed boost to the tourism industry which has struggled due to the pandemic. Thousands of Nepalese in the tourism sector have lost jobs and many enterprises have shut shop.