Cyclone Montha grounds Lukla flights for third day, stranding thousands of Everest trekkers
Flights to and from Lukla have been suspended for three days due to heavy rain and poor visibility, crowding hotels and delaying expeditions at the height of trekking season.
Thousands of trekkers bound for the Everest region have been stranded in Lukla and surrounding areas after flights to and from Solukhumbu district remained suspended for the third consecutive day due to bad weather caused by Cyclone Montha, officials said on Saturday.
Known as the gateway to Mount Everest, Lukla Airport is one of the busiest domestic airports in Nepal during the autumn trekking season. The suspension of flights has caused crowding in local hotels and markets as both foreign and Nepali travelers wait for clearer skies.
“With the visibility extremely low—it’s rainy and a bit foggy—flights have been disrupted to a large extent due to Cyclone Montha,” Air Traffic Controller Nabaraj Katuwal of Lukla Airport told Everest Chronicle. “In the last three days, we have seen barely 100 flights, mostly helicopters. There have been no fixed-wing aircraft flights.”
Cyclone Montha, which developed over the Bay of Bengal last week, has brought persistent rain and poor visibility across eastern and central Nepal, particularly affecting mountain districts. Though the system has weakened, its remnants continue to cause heavy clouds, rainfall, and fog over much of the Himalayan foothills, according to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology.
The minimum visibility requirement for helicopters in Lukla is 1,500 meters, while fixed-wing aircraft require at least 5 kilometers. “We allow helicopters to fly whenever conditions meet the visibility standard,” Katuwal said, “but the weather hasn’t improved much in recent days.”
Solukhumbu has four airports but only Lukla and Phaplu handle most of the traffic. The Phaplu Airport, located near the district headquarters, has also remained shut for three days, grounding government and private flights alike.
Local tourism operators say the ongoing disruption has left thousands of trekkers unable to begin or return from their expeditions. Hotels in Lukla and Namche Bazaar are running near full capacity, while some tourists have been forced to share rooms or stay in community halls.
The autumn season (September–November) is Nepal’s busiest time for trekking, with hundreds of daily flights normally connecting the Everest region with Kathmandu and Ramechhap.
According to today’s forecast from Nepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, light to moderate rain with chances of snowfall at higher elevations is expected to continue in the eastern and central mountain regions over the next 24 hours.
