Lukla Airport

Lukla is situated at Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality of the Solukhumbu District, Province No. 1 north-eastern part of Nepal. This is the most popular airport in the region due to all trekkers and mountaineers communing the Everest Base Camp Trek from Lukla. Lukla Airport was built in 1964 under the supervision of Sir Edmund Hillary; originally he wanted to build the airport in flat farmland. Nevertheless, the local farmers did not want to give up their agricultural land, and as a result, the airport was built at its current position, where Hillary spends US$2,650 to get land. The runway was paved on the blacktop in 2001, where accessible only helicopters and small fixed-wing, short-take, and land aircraft (De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, Dornier Do 228, L-410 Turbolet and Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter) and in January 2008 the airport renamed in honor of the mountain legendry Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary, who was submitted top of the world “Mt. Everest (8,848m), and the mark of their efforts in the construction of the airport. Lukla Airport runway is 527 meters (1,729 ft) and 30 meters (98 ft) wide an 11.7% gradient.