Tengboche
3,867 m
Lukla
2,845 m
12 mins
8:00 AM
$350
per seat
$1,000
aircraft
CAAN licensed
Free weather reschedule
Rescue capable
Everest Base Camp to Lukla helicopter flight
Everest Base Camp
5,364 m
Lukla
2,845 m
- Flight time
- 25 mins
- Seats
- 3
- Baggage
- 8 kg
- From
- $600
Flight overview
Flying Everest Base Camp to Lukla helicopter flight
| Route | Departs | Seats | Flight time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Everest Base Camp to Lukla helicopter flight | 7:00 AM | 3 | 25 mins |
A pickup from 5,364 metres on the Khumbu Glacier, twenty-five minutes down to Lukla. This is the highest landing site in our rate card and the most conditional.
Base camp is not a permanent place. It appears each spring as a tented town for the climbing season, empties, returns smaller in the autumn, and vanishes. The helicopter pads are prepared by expedition teams on ice that is moving under them, and they change from year to year and sometimes from week to week.
Who this is actually for
Expeditions, their staff, film crews and evacuations. If you are a trekker who has walked to base camp, the flight you want leaves from Gorakshep, ninety minutes down the glacier, costs the same, and is available every morning in season rather than sometimes.
What we will and will not promise
We will fly this route when an operator confirms a usable pad and the aircraft can lift out of it. We will not sell you a guaranteed base camp landing, because nobody can honestly sell that.
- To
- Lukla
- Aircraft
- AS350 B3e / H125
- Passenger insurance
- Included
- Flight rules
- Visual, daylight only
Pilot advisory
Base camp landings depend on seasonal pads prepared by expedition teams on moving glacier ice. Outside the spring and autumn seasons there may be no usable pad at all. Confirm with us before planning around this route.
Pricing
What this flight costs, and what it does not include
Both figures are the price we quote on WhatsApp. A shared seat puts you on a scheduled departure with other travellers. A private charter is the whole aircraft on your schedule.
Included
- Confirmed seat or aircraft on the stated departure
- All government taxes on the charter
- Passenger liability insurance
- Pilot and crew
- Free rescheduling if the flight is held for weather
Not included
- Personal travel and medical insurance
- Meals, accommodation and ground transport
- National park permits and TIMS cards
- Excess baggage above the stated allowance
- Anything arising from a delay outside our control
We publish how these prices are set and when they move. Read the price transparency policy.
Operators
CAAN licensed operators
We charter aircraft only from operators that hold a current air operator certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. Each one below is reviewed by us before we put passengers on their aircraft.
Air Dynasty Heli Services
Manang Air
Simrik Air
Mountain Helicopters
Heli Everest
Altitude Air
Kailash Helicopter Services
Prabhu Helicopter
Upcoming departures
The next flights on this route
All departures are subject to visual flight rules and weather. Seat counts are confirmed with operators each morning.
Landing site
Where you land at Lukla
- Helipad
- Tenzing-Hillary Airport helipad
- Area
- Khumbu, Everest region
- Altitude
- 2,845 m
- Coordinates
- 27.68690, 86.72970
The airstrip is 527 metres long, slopes uphill at around twelve degrees, and ends in a rock face. Helicopters use the pad adjacent to the apron rather than the runway itself. Stay behind the marked line until the rotor has stopped and approach only from the front, where the crew can see you.
Safety
What you need to know before you board
This is the highest pickup we operate and it is only possible in season, from a pad an expedition has prepared and is maintaining.
Payload at 5,364 metres is severely limited. Three passengers and eight kilos each is the working assumption, and even that depends on the morning temperature.
Base camp is on a moving glacier. Surfaces change week to week. We will not commit to a landing until an operator has confirmed the pad is usable that day.
Questions
What travellers ask about this route
No. The pads are built by expedition teams during the climbing seasons and the glacier moves under them. In the spring and autumn, usually. Out of season, often not at all.
Expedition members, expedition staff, film crews, and evacuations from the mountain. Very few ordinary trekkers, because most walk the hour and a half down to Gorakshep and fly from there for the same money.
Gorakshep, almost certainly. It is the same price, it is reliable, and it is ninety minutes walk away.
Eight kilos. At this altitude the aircraft needs its payload for fuel and people.
Yes, by arrangement, for expedition support. We do not sell it as a scenic landing.
Hold a seat
Request this flight
No payment now. Tell us the date and the group, and we will come back with a confirmed aircraft, a confirmed price and a deposit link.
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