Nepal reestablished the direct air link with Sri Lanka after more than three decades, with the newly-launched Himalaya Airlines making its maiden commercial flight to Colombo on Tuesday. The national flag carrier, in its previous avatar as Royal Nepal Airlines, used to operate direct flights to Colombo during the 1980s. But the carrier suspended its operations following the armed movement by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka.There has been no direct air links between the two countries since. As there are no direct flights connecting the two countries, 90 percent of Sri Lankan visitors enter Nepal overland from Bhairahawa to visit Buddhist sites in Lumbini. The chartered flight took off from the Tribhuvan International Airport at 9:05am. The airline had offered the round-trip fare of Rs55,000 for business class and Rs35,000 for economy.