Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikary said that it is a matter of pride for all Nepali to welcome the first wide body aircraft of Nepal Airlines. In his tweet, Minister said that this is the biggest movement in the history of aviation in Nepal.

Rabindra Adhikari ‏@RabindraADH

राष्ट्रिय धोजावहाक नेपाल वायु सेवा निगमको एअरबस ३३० आज त्रिभुवन अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय विमानस्थलमा आईपुगेको छ । नयाँ जहाज आउनु हामी सबैको लागि खुशिको समय हो । आउदो महिना थप अर्को वाइड बडि आईपुग्ने छ । नयाँ जहाजको व्यवसायिक उडान भने आगामी अगस्ट १ गतेबाट हुनेछ । सफल उडानको शुभकामना ।

Minister Adhikary, senior officials from Ministry and Civil Aviation Authority and Nepal Airlines Corporation presented at TIA. Addressing the program, Ministry Adhikary expressed the hope that new aircraft will help to bring 2 million tourists in Nepal.

Managing director Sugat Ratna Kansakar said that Nepal’s national flag carrier can now fly up to Europe, Japan and other long distance destination with new aircrafts.

Nepal Airlines Corporation’s first long-range Airbus A330 has arrived at Tribhuvan International Airport on Thursday morning. The aircraft, named Annapurna, touched down at TIA runway at around 8:05 am. It had flown into Kathmandu from Airbus’s final assembly line in Toulouse, France.

The new aircraft, powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, features a two-class cabin configuration and seats a total of 274 passengers—18 in business class and 256 in economy class.

NAC ordered two 274-seater jets through Portuguese leasing company Hi Fly. The second jet is expected to arrive by July-end. NAC plans to put the aircraft into commercial service in 15-20 days after finishing the paperwork with the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

It, however, will not fly on new routes immediately and instead operate on the Doha, Dubai and Bangkok sectors for at least a month. The plane will fly to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and connect Japan and South Korea in the second phase..