Hangzhou Airport welcomed the inaugural inbound flight H9225 of Himalaya Airlines' Kathmandu route at 1:00 AM on October 1st with a ceremonial water salute, the highest honor in civil aviation.

At 3:18 AM, outbound flight H9226 departed with 154 passengers bound for Nepal, officially marking the launch of the direct "Hangzhou-Kathmandu" route.

This is Zhejiang's first direct route to Nepal and represents Hangzhou Airport's first achievement of full coverage across all major Asian regions.

For a long time, Hangzhou travelers heading to Nepal, the "Land of Gods," mostly had to transfer through Guangzhou, Kunming, or other cities, with one-way journeys often taking an entire day.

With the direct route now in operation, passengers can complete the entire flight in just 6 to 7 hours and upon landing enjoy the golden sunrise over the Himalayan foothills.

For outdoor enthusiasts, this change is particularly welcome - whether it is the beginner-friendly ABC Annapurna Base Camp trek, the challenging EBC Everest Base Camp trek, or the ACT Annapurna Circuit widely praised by hikers as the "pinnacle of trekking," all are now within easy reach thanks to this direct air link.

In recent years, Hangzhou Airport has continued to expand its international route network, now serving 31 overseas destinations across Asia including Singapore, Seoul, and Bangkok.

However, as the world's most dynamically growing South Asian subcontinent, the route network once had a notable gap.

Nepal, located on the southern slopes of the Himalayas in northern South Asia, is an important country along the Belt and Road Initiative.

This new route directly connecting to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, fills the "last piece of the puzzle" for Hangzhou Airport's Asian overseas routes, achieving full coverage of major Asian regions for the first time - from East Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and West Asia to South Asia, the Asian route map now connects points into lines and lines into networks.

The Kathmandu route is not merely a geographical extension but a key strategic move in Zhejiang's opening-up strategy, opening up imaginative possibilities for deepening regional cooperation.

On the economic and trade front, as a major foreign trade province and manufacturing powerhouse, Zhejiang's industrial advantages complement the South Asian market, and the direct route will significantly reduce business travel time and logistics costs.

On the cultural and tourism front, Nepal's unique snow mountain trekking resources align closely with Zhejiang's large outdoor sports community, and two-way tourism cooperation is expected to achieve new growth.

On the people-to-people front, the more convenient air corridor will further promote deeper exchanges between both sides in education, culture, and civil interactions.

From the surging tides of the Qiantang River to the Himalayas, as an important arrangement serving the Belt and Road Initiative, the launch of the "Hangzhou-Kathmandu" route further improves Hangzhou's international route network, especially Zhejiang's southbound air corridor connecting to South Asia, injecting new momentum into Zhejiang's high-level opening-up and high-quality civil aviation province development.