4th September 2015
Nepali flag carrier Nepal Airlines resumed operations to India’s financial capital today after a gap of nearly 9 years with a twice weekly A320 operation.
Flight RA 201 took-off from Kathmandu at 1407 against its STD of 1400 and touched-down on Mumbai’s main runway 27 at 1632 hrs against its STA of 1630.
It was operated with their newest A320 registration # 9N-AKX christened Lumbini after the Birthplace of Lord Buddha by the senior cockpit crew of Capt P Rajbhandari, Capt SK Dhewaju & German A320 Instructor Capt. Christoph Hiltensperger who is also the CEO of an upcoming airline in Nepal – Bishwo Airways.
The load factor for this inaugural flight was 52 adults & 1 infant.
Passengers emerged from the aircraft and into our beautiful Terminal 2 with a nice golden Nepal Airlines silk stole around their necks presented as an inaugural flight memento.
There was a bit of a snafu when the airplane reached the gate, as you can see from Capt Hiltensperger’s reaction. I won’t elaborate on what it was as me & the Capt had a laugh about it a little later.
Capt Hiltensperger asked me about the camera & lens i was on when i requested the crew to step out of the aircraft for a group picture. Upon my answer he asked us to wait & took-off in a hurry into the 320.
Imagine my surprise, when he returned with a Nikon D4 gunship of his own – Wunderbar! 🙂
Here’s wishing the Nepal Airlines team success and a prosperous stay.
My sincere thanks to the fabulous people at GVK & CSIA for the privilege 👍
Here’s my photo of 1 of 2 Nepal Airlines workhorse 757 landing at New Delhi in 2008, this one is named Karnali after the river:
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