Kathmandu, July 15:  The third-phase of operation of chartered flights is beginning from today to bring back those Nepalis left stranded in several countries due to COVID-19 crisis.    

Two domestic airlines companies; the state-owned Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) and the private Himalaya Airlines and some others international airlines are joining the third-phase operation of flight to several destinations for a week to pick up Nepali citizens.    

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has fixed the time table from July 15 to 22 for the operation of chartered flights. The flight schedule has been already published.    

As per the schedule, the NAC and Himalayan Airlines are starting the operations today. There will be 42 flights for special purposes while the NAC is alone to make 24 flights followed the 15 flights by the Himalaya.    

Today, the NAC is making two flights to Dubai and Himalaya Airlines is operating two flights to Abu Dhabi. The Air Arabia, Fly Dubai and Jazeera Air are joining with two airlines companies for the rescue flights.    

The chartered flights have been scheduled as per the permission of the government. The NAC and Himalya Airlines have already made several chartered flights for different destinations like China, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Japan to bring Nepalis back to home. Tribhuvan International Airport sees the operation of up to16 chartered flights on a daily basis.