Himalaya Airlines takes-off to Lhasa for test flight

Himalaya Airlines, a Nepal-China joint venture airline, took off on their first high altitude destination, Lhasa for a test flight on January 19. Lhasa is the religious and administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region famous for its history and religious landmarks, attracting tourists from all over the world. The test flight operation is in line with company’s commercial plan to introduce scheduled flights to Lhasa during summer of 2021. The test flight H9 961 departed from Tribhuwan International Airport to Lhasa Gonggar International Airport (LXA) on January 19. Captain Hao Di, Vice President-Operations, led the test flight crew including senior level captains who would carry out three different approaches at Lhasa airport for the validation flight. Zhou Enyong, President of Himalaya Airlines expressed, “Himalaya team has been meticulously working on this high altitude operation to Lhasa since last year. Today’s test flight take off, has reinforced commitment to our key guiding principles of safety, team spirit and winning spirit. I would like to congratulate our team for the successful operation of validation flight and we are grateful to receive the support of civil aviation authorities of both the countries which has enabled us to carry out this mission effortlessly.” The airlines inducted a brand new narrow body A319-115 aircraft registered as H9-AJK on March 2 especially for high altitude operations. Configured with 120 economy and 8 business class seats the aircraft has modifications for high altitude operations and capabilities to operate trans Himalayan routes with aerodromes elevation to maximum 14,500 ft.