POKHARA, Jan 19: A chartered flight of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) is leaving Kathmandu for the Macao Special Administrative Region of China on Tuesday midnight, to bring back home 147 Nepali workers who lost their jobs there due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Karishma Shrestha, spokesperson for the NAC, a 158-seater narrow body aircraft of the NAC is flying to Macao at 11:30PM today to bring back 147 Nepali workers who have been languishing there for months after losing their jobs owing to the coronavirus. The NAC is making a chartered flight to Macao for the first time.
"So far, we have conducted scheduled flights up to Hong Kong only. We are making a chartered flight to the Chinese city for the first time," the NAC spokesperson said.
NAC operating three chartered flights to Japan
The NAC aircraft will return to Kathmandu at 10:50AM on Wednesday, carrying the Nepali workers.
Nepal's Consulate Office based in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China facilitated the chartered flight to Macao, NAC Spokesperson Shrestha said.
According to a Nepali worker who is returning home in the same aircraft, one Nepali has to pay around Rs 91,000 for their chartered flight from Macao to Kathmandu.
It is said that around 2,500 Nepali youths work in Macao. The Chinese city has enforced various measures after the Chinese mainland started witnessing cases of the UK coronavirus new variant.