This airport is one of the world’s most scenic – and treacherous

Within an instant, the flight attendant – who makes the 20-minute hop from Ramecchap to Lukla and back five times a day – leaps to her feet and ushers us out of our seats to disembark. In just a few minutes my fellow travellers and I are standing on the tarmac, soaking up the mountains of Nepal’s Khumbu region and getting a front-row view of another plane completing the same nerve-wracking landing.

This little airport seems to run like clockwork, and it needs to, with around 50 aircraft touching down every day in peak season (March to May and September to November). And with no go-round procedure possible thanks to the surrounding mountains, weather conditions have to be optimal for landing, so every minute is precious.

There’s no direct road route to Lukla so, for time-poor trekkers like myself, catching the flight is key to reaching your destination quickly. But as visitor numbers increase, so too has the pressure on getting flights into and out of the airport.

Given the short runway and challenging weather conditions, there are frequent flight cancellations. There have also been several fatal accidents over the years. Most recently, in April 2019, a Summit Air Twin Otter skidded off the runway during takeoff and collided with a parked helicopter, killing three people.

The increased activity at Tenzing-Hillary spurred the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal to make a major operational change in 2019, requiring all flights into the airport to arrive from Manthali Airport in Ramechhap, about 143 km outside the capital, rather than from Kathmandu during peak season. It cited Tenzing-Hillary’s busyness and the need to ease pressure on Kathmandu’s airport and improve overall flight safety.

Ahead of each season, the Nepalese aviation authority announces the dates when Lukla flights must operate solely from Ramechhap – prompting a procession of tourists east.

The day before my Lukla flight, I was one of those tourists. An early-morning wake-up call at my Kathmandu hotel got me up in time to catch a bus to Ramechhap’s airport, a ride of six hours due to traffic.

The pluses of travelling by bus include glimpses of village life en route, where, much like our vehicle, things seemed to proceed at a much slower pace than I am used to. The winding roads were expertly navigated by our driver, who roared up steep hills and passed oncoming traffic with ease, even on roads just wide enough for two buses to pass each other with their side mirrors intact.

Arriving at last in Ramechhap, it was apparent the infrastructure hasn’t quite caught up with the number of visitors flocking into town to catch flights to Lukla. Because these are scheduled for the early morning, before the clouds roll in, many travellers have to get up at 2am in Kathmandu to get there in time if they can’t find accommodation nearby.

Fortunately for me, World Expeditions has a campsite a short walk from Ramechhap’s airport, meaning a much more palatable 6.30am wake-up ahead of our flight.

As it turned out, there was no need for an alarm. At 6am, the sound of planes coming in to land roused me from my sleep. While anywhere else this noise would be most unwelcome, here it was a thrilling harbinger of the adventure ahead.

The writer travelled as a guest of World Expeditions.