July 27: The second Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft of Nepal Airlines Corporation has arrived in Kathmandu on Thursday, July 26.

The aircraft has been named “Makalu” by the airline. NAC had brought its first Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft “Annapurna” last month on June 28.

NAC informed New Business Age that the aircraft with call sign 9N-ALZ landed at Tribhuvan International Airport at 9 am on Thursday morning. Makalu Airbus A330 was operated by the pilots from the Airbus company. The aircraft landed in Kathmandu after nine hours long voyage from Tousle, France.

Saugat Ratna Kansakar, managing director of NAC, informed that the aircraft will start international operations shortly after completing all the technical test of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.  

The aircraft has a seating capacity of 274 seats for the passengers and is divided into two configuration, 18 seats for business class and 256 seats for economy class.

The airline in a statement informed that it will operate both the wide-body aircraft to its regular eight international destinations. NAC also plans to operate the aircraft to Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia shortly.

The flag carrier of Nepal has also made plans to extend its international destinations and aims to hold 18 percent of international aviation market.

At present, the airline owns 10 percent of the international market and expects to own additional 8 percent after the operation of the two wide-body aircraft. Saugat Ratna Kansakar informed that the operation of the first wide-body aircraft will begin from mid-August and the second aircraft will start operation days later.

NAC plans to operate the first wide-body aircraft “Annapurna” to Bangalore, Doha and Bangkok and then extend the operation to other destinations.

According to Kansakar, NAC is following the international protocol of operating new aircraft to regular destinations first rather than flying to new airfields.

Travel and tour business operators are excited with the arrival of the new wide-body aircraft. They believe the aircraft will help boost the tourism business of the country.

They informed that the government should now focus on development of infrastructure for attracting more tourists to the country.