The Kathmandu-Karachi direct flights, halted by the Indo-Pak tensions two years ago, is to resume from today (Sunday), Space Time said, quoting Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) officials.

“We are encouraged with the new flights as they are beginning on the day when the SAARC Summit is to start in Islamabad,” the daily quoted Gulam Nabi Lasari, PIA general manager in Nepal, as saying.

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sarbendra Nath, officials from Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal and PIA officials are receiving the first lot of 50 passengers at Kathmandu airport who will board the PIA flight from Karachi Sunday, the daily said.

The PIA plane will return to the port city of Pakistan on Sunday carrying 52 passengers, the daily said, adding, the airlines will fly twice a week to Nepal on Sunday and Wednesday.

“Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa will return to Nepal from Islamabad boarding a PIA flight on Wednesday,” Lasari added. It will now take two and half hours for a plane to reach Karachi from Kathmandu through direct flights, according to the daily.