China's new daily flight to Nepal to fly over Mount Everest

BEIJING: A daily flight between China's southwest Chengdu city and Kathmandu will begin next month, and will fly over the Mount Everest, providing an aerial view of the world's highest peak and Tibet.

The flight service will be launched on April 1, China's Sichuan Airlines said.

The daily direct flight will leave Chengdu at 7:30 a.m. and arrive in Kathmandu at 10:10 a.m. (local time) via Lhasa and the Tibet Autonomous Region, known as the roof of world.

Passengers will be able to see Mount Everest known in China as Mt. Qomolangma from the Airbus 319 plane, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Nepal is a top hiking destination for Chinese tourists and adventure seekers.

China has scaled up its relations with Nepal by improving connectivity both by land through Tibet and by air, encouraging its millions of outbound tourists to visit the country - strategically located in the Himalayas - sharing borders both with India and China.

Chinese investments in Nepal also grew in recent years as Kathmandu clamped down on Tibetan refugees and moved closer to Beijing.

Clamour for Chinese tourists all over the world is on the rise as over 100 million of them visited abroad last year, spending an estimated USD 102 billion.

All countries in the region including India are trying to attract a large number of Chinese tourists.

In the last two days over 2,000 Chinese tourists trapped in Kathmandu, due to closure of the airport, had returned to China in the flights operated by various Chinese airlines.

A crashed Turkish plane caused a four-day closure of Tribhuwan International Airport, Nepal's only international airport, on March 4.

Approximately 40,000 passengers and 240 flights were affected before plane was removed from the runway.