Flights to Lukla information
Snowcat
The small mountain airstrip at Lukla is where most people trekking in the Everest region begin and end their trek.
These flights in themselves are entirely weather dependent and are known (infamous) to be prone to delays and cancellations. Sometimes flights to Lukla are cancelled for days until the weather has cleared and it is safe to fly once more.
For all Everest treks you should be prepared for this and consider adding contingency days to your itinerary as when this happens unfortunately you are essentially stranded.
For more see: About Contingency
Usually flights to Lukla are from Kathmandu Airport. It takes around 30-45 mins to reach Kathmandu Airport from central Kathmandu. Flying time to Lukla from Kathmandu is usually less than 40 minutes.
However, at certain times of year all flights to/from Lukla are moved from Kathmandu to a small airport at Manthali (aka Ramechap)
Manthali is around 6 hours drive away!!!
Yes, we know this is absurd…..from Manthali it's only a 20 minute flight but requires several hours of overland travel just to get to the airport.
Why do they move Lukla flights to Manthali/Ramechap?
At certain times of year Kathmandu Airport becomes severely congested. To ease that congestion and because there are so many daily flights to Lukla (if weather permits) the Civil Aviation of Authority of Nepal decide that all flights to Lukla must now be from Manthali.
When do Lukla flights change to Manthali/Ramechap?
This is where it really starts to get silly. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal don't announce the specific dates when things change until the very last minute.
For the start of the main trekking season in October 2024 flights to Lukla were changed to Manthali with just FOUR DAYS NOTICE!
The best we can do is make an educated guess without any certainty that flights from Manthali may occur at some time during the following periods:
Yes, we realise these periods also coincide with the peak trekking times.
What can you do about this?
Well, the first thing is that maybe once you've stopped shaking your head at the absurdity of this, hopefully it's realised that at least you now know.
The second thing is that at Snow Cat Travel we don't do fixed itinerary "join a group" treks you can make a form of allowance for such an eventuality, although you'll need to remain rather flexible.....an "either/or" approach if you like.
What we're essentially suggesting is either allowing an extra day in your overall travel plans for the possibility that you may have to fly to Lukla from Manthali (and back)....or make no allowance.
As your trek with Snow Cat Travel is both private and customisable, the choice is entirely yours.
But do please bear in mind that as the specific dates are usually announced at short notice (days in advance not weeks or months) we don't have certainty ourselves either.
Scenario 1- Make no allowance
If you are hoping with fingers crossed that you'll be able to fly from Kathmandu to Lukla and that flights have changed to Manthali, then your arrival day will be significantly impacted.
Arrive Kathmandu and spend the night in a hotel is rendered almost impossible. Dependent upon your international flight time arrival you might get a couple of hours at the hotel before having to leave or none at all.
As we mentioned Manthali is several hours away by road and flights to Lukla are very early in the morning. So you may just find that you have no choice but to travel to Manthali by road during the night instead of getting a good nights sleep in Kathmandu.
Oh, and by the way, travelling by road at night time (even in a private vehicle) in a country like Nepal is potentially dangerous and we certainly would never advocate travelling on roads in Nepal during darkness except in an emergency.
Additionally if you also consider that you have just travelled for many hours on your international flight to Kathmandu (which is usually exhausting in itself), there’s little chance of you recovering from that or even beginning to adjust to the time difference if you’re then faced with the prospect of a risky overnight drive of several hours on bumpy, winding roads and being both sleep deprived and worn out when you arrive at Lukla and suddenly find 20 minutes later that you’re trekking at altitude in the Everest region.
We would respectfully suggest that is not a good way to start a trek and may even hinder the acclimatisation process.
Scenario 2 - Allow an additional day
Consider factoring in an additional day to allow for the possibility that you might be flying to Lukla from Manthali.
This affords the comfort of a hotel on your arrival day to start with.
If your flight is going to be from Manthali then on this factored in additional day we can drive you much closer to Manthali and importantly during day light hours. There is no suitable accommodation in Manthali itself. Instead we would take you to a cosy river side lodge to spend the night and then drive to Manthali the following morning to enable you to take your flight to Lukla is significantly less.
If the flight isn’t going to be from Manthali and ends up being from Kathmandu then you’d spend this additional day and night in Kathmandu and you’ve got yourself an extra day to explore the likes of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur. This option is subject to the usual road to Manthali being open. In some instances a longer, alternative route may be necessary and the usage of an alternative (basic) hotel close to Manthali.
What about getting back to Kathmandu from Lukla
If your flight from Lukla is back to Manthali, then we can drive you back from Manthali to Kathmandu the same day. It is of course a longer drive, but at least it would be daylight. You're basically getting back to Kathmandu later than you perhaps would have preferred.
If your flight from Lukla is back to Kathmandu, then you'll be back at your hotel not too long afterwards.
But, guess what? The dates the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal announce as being the cessation of flights back to Manthali and reverting to Kathmandu has (surprise, surprise) been changed from the announced date...and guess what? Yes....you've got it.....at very short notice too.
Sometimes trekkers fly up to Lukla from Manthali thinking that when they get back to Lukla after their trek they are supposed to be flying back to Manthali, only to discover that flights are now going back to Kathmandu. That's probably more of welcome surprise though
Are there extra costs involved for flights from/to Manthali and the additional travel?
In most, but not all scenario's we will have already mitigated for this in the costing we provide you. So, "no".
However in exceptional circumstances additional costs may be applicable.
For example if the road to Manthali was blocked, a considerably longer detour route would be essential and alternative accommodation (if applicable) may be necessary.
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