Kathmandu
1,400 m
Lukla
2,845 m
45 mins
6:30 AM
8:00 AM
1:00 PM
$500
per seat
$2,500
aircraft
Kathmandu Valley
Kathmandu
Almost every Everest-region helicopter flight starts or ends at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. The city sits in a bowl at 1,400 metres, ringed by hills, and that bowl is the first operational problem of the day. Morning fog in winter and pre-monsoon haze in April and May can hold aircraft on the ground long after the mountains themselves have cleared.
The flight north climbs out of the valley and crosses a long succession of ridges and river gorges before the terrain steps up into the Khumbu. It is roughly forty-five minutes to Lukla in a single-engine machine, and around an hour and ten to the head of the Khumbu valley. There is no scenic detour on the way: the route is a working transit, and the views begin in earnest once you are past Jiri.
What to expect on a Kathmandu departure
You will be asked for your passport at the terminal and weighed, along with your bag, before boarding. This is not bureaucracy. A single-engine helicopter operating to a 2,845-metre airstrip has a finite useful load, and the pilot needs real figures rather than estimates to work out how many people can go and how much fuel can be carried.
Departures are grouped in the morning for a reason. By midday, convection builds over the ridges and the air becomes rough enough that the flight stops being pleasant and starts being marginal. An afternoon slot is available on the Lukla route, but the first two are the ones we recommend.
Government taxes and airport charges
Our published prices include the government taxes that apply to the charter. The domestic airport service charge of NPR 400 per passenger is collected at the terminal and is not included, because it is paid by you, in cash, at a desk we do not control.
01Departing
Flights out of Kathmandu
02Arriving
Flights into Kathmandu
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