Tenzing–Hillary Airport
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Tenzing–Hillary Airport तेन्जिङ हिलारी विमानस्थल |
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Serves | Lukla, Nepal | ||||||||||
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| Elevation AMSL | 9,334 ft / 2,845 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 27°41′16″N 086°43′53″E / 27.68778°N 86.73139°ECoordinates: 27°41′16″N 086°43′53″E / 27.68778°N 86.73139°E | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
 LUA
Location of airport in Nepal
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Tenzing–Hillary Airport (IATA: LUA, ICAO: VNLK), also known as Lukla Airport, is a small airport in the town of Lukla, in Khumbu, Solukhumbu District, Province No. 1, eastern Nepal. A program titled Most Extreme Airports, broadcast on The History Channel in 2010, rated the airport as the most dangerous airport in the world for over 20 years.
The airport is popular because Lukla is the place where most people start the climb to Mount Everest Base Camp. There are daily flights between Lukla and Kathmandu during daylight hours in good weather. Although the flying distance is short, rain commonly occurs in Lukla while the sun is shining brightly in Kathmandu. High winds, cloud cover, and changing visibility often mean flights can be delayed or the airport closed. The airport is contained within a chain link fence and patrolled by the Nepali armed police or civil police around the clock.
The airport was built in 1964 under supervision of Edmund Hillary, who originally intended to build the airport on flat farmlands; however, local farmers did not want to give up their land, so the airport was built at its current position. Hillary bought the land from local Sherpas for 2650 US-Dollar and involved them in building the facilities. It has been said that Hillary was unhappy with the runway's soil resistance, and that his solution was to buy local liquor for the Sherpas and ask them to perform foot-stomping dance to flatten the land which served as the runway. The runway was paved only in 2001.
In January 2008, the airport was renamed in honor of Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary, the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest and also to mark their efforts in the construction of this airport.
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Wikipedia