"Getting to the trail heads – Flying to Lukla" Top 5 Page for this destination Airplane Tip by into-thin-air

More and more people now fly both into and back out from Lukla when trekking Everest Base Camp / Kala Pattar , The big advantage of this is that you can then do the EBC trek in around 14 days.
There are several airlines flying the route, Yeti, Gorkha and Nepal Airlines (Formally Royal Air Nepal) to name three,
Personally I would go with either Yeti or Gorkha as Nepal Airlines has a reputation for being unreliable !!
You can Reserve your flight at a Thamel travel agent like HMA and pay for the air-ticket when you arrive in Nepal or book your flights on-line, If you are trekking in the high season I would recommend that you do this, It is also advisable to book your return flight, leave yourself plenty of time to complete your trek comfortably when you do this as when you get back to Namche Bazaar you can telephone Lukla and try and bring your flight forward if you are ahead of schedule, as long as there is availability of seats then you will be able to fly out earlier, if there is no availability of seats you can have a couple of extra days around Namche which is a Lot nicer place to stay than Lukla !!
Also if you are running late, Again you phone the airline office and reschedule your flights for the next available flight with spare seats.

2012 update - Tips for flying out of Lukla

1) I always try to arrive in Lukla around Mid-Day / Early afternoon the day before I am flying
2) I choose to stay at “The Sunrise Lodge” as the lodge owner has a certain amount of “Power” with the airlines
3) When the airline office opens myself accompanied by the lodge owner make our way down to the airline office to ensure that my name is on the list
4) The next morning I head to the airport early, the lodge owner is at the check-in desk, I pay my 200NPR departure tax, my luggage is weighed and I am issued with a boarding pass.
5) As long as the aircraft arrives I fly

There are many things that can go wrong at Lukla, the most common of these are flight cancellations due to bad weather (Either at Kathmandu or at Lukla – Lukla might have clear blue skies but there might be fog in Kathmandu and visa versa)
Backlogs soon build up and when this happens Lukla soon descends into Pandemonium with the guides in charge of the large groups exerting pressure on airlines to try and ensure that their group flies as soon as possible, and at the same time individual trekkers trying to bribe officials.
Therefore most experienced trekkers allow several buffer days to try to cover this eventuality and in the worst-case scenario walk out to Jiri to avoid missing their international flight home.
It is unlikely that things will improve in the future as Lukla can only take small planes, the weather will always be unpredictable and because of the recent air crashes in Nepal airlines are now a little more cautious than they used to be.

Mode: AROUND
Type: Airplane