Tenzing-Hillary Airport

The Tenzing and Hillary Airport (Lukla Airport until 2008) is a small airport in the city of Lukla in eastern Nepal. In January 2008 it was renamed after the first Everest conquerors: Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary.

The airport has a 527-meter runway with a 12 percent slope at 2,860 meters above sea level. Due to the difficult terrain all landings are made from gate 06 and all takeoffs from gate 24. Due to the high gradient, the runway ends differ in height by 60 meters. End 06 is located right on the edge of a precipice that falls into a seven hundred meter abyss, while 24 is located at the foot of a four thousand meter ridge. The apron is equipped with four parking lots and a helipad. Takeoffs and landings are performed exclusively by VFR, as the airport has only a radio station among navigational equipment.

Due to its proximity to Everest, the airport is popular with climbers starting their ascent from Lukla. Several airlines fly here from Kathmandu, but flights are only available during the day and in good visibility. The weather around the airport is unpredictable; its instability causes frequent flight cancellations. The runway can only accommodate helicopters and short takeoff and landing aircraft such as the De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter and the Dornier Do 228.

In addition, in the game Far Cry 4 there was an airport in the fictional country of Kirat, which suspiciously resembles this airport.