Lukla Flights: Delays, Ramechhap and How to Plan Around Them

Almost every Everest trek starts with a short flight to Lukla. It is a beautiful flight, and it is also the part of the trek you control least. Planning around it calmly is the best thing you can do for your trip.

Why the flights are delayed

Lukla’s airport sits on a mountainside at about 2,860 m, with a short, sloping runway. The small planes fly by sight, so they need clear weather at both ends and in the valley between. Cloud, wind or mist at Lukla, in Kathmandu or on the way stops the flights. Most flights go in the morning, because cloud usually builds by midday.

When the first flights are held, the whole day’s queue moves back. A day or two of bad weather can leave many people waiting at both ends.

Ramechhap (Manthali)

In the busy seasons, many Lukla flights leave from Ramechhap airport at Manthali instead of Kathmandu, to ease the traffic at Kathmandu airport. It is a drive of several hours from Kathmandu, usually in the middle of the night to reach the first flights. Your ticket says which airport; ask before you book your hotel nights.

How many spare days?

• Keep at least one spare day, better two, between the end of the trek and your flight home.
• In the monsoon and in winter mornings with fog, keep more.
• Do not book a non-changeable international flight the day after you are due back from Lukla.

If the flight is cancelled

The airline puts you on the next possible flight, usually the next morning. Sometimes a helicopter is possible; it costs much more, and I only arrange it when you ask, at the price the company charges. Check what your travel insurance covers for delays and helicopter flights before you travel.

Luggage

The planes are small and the luggage limit is strict. Pack light; you can leave what you do not need at your hotel in Kathmandu. Ask me for the current limit before you pack.

The other way in

You can avoid the flight on the way in by taking the road to the lower Solu hills and walking up to the Lukla trail over several days. It adds days, quiet villages and good acclimatisation. Many people then fly out from Lukla at the end. Read more in my guide to Nepal trekking permits.

What I do

I watch the weather with you, keep in touch with the airline the evening before, and change the plan when the flights do not go. Waiting days are part of the Everest trip; with a spare day or two they are only a quiet day in Kathmandu or Lukla.