# Tenzing-Hillary Airport (LUA / VNLK)

**Tenzing-Hillary Airport** (IATA: LUA, ICAO: VNLK) is a medium airport in Lukla, Koshi Province, Nepal. It opened in 1964. It has one runway, 527 m (1,729 ft) long, asphalt. In 2019 it handled 130 thousand passengers.

Web page: https://dromopedia.com/airports/vnlk

## At a glance

- IATA / ICAO: LUA / VNLK
- Type: Medium airport
- Serves: Lukla, Koshi Province, Nepal
- Opened: 1964
- Elevation: 2,859 m / 9,380 ft
- Coordinates: 27.6868, 86.7295
- Runways: 1
- Longest runway: 527 m / 1,729 ft
- Passengers: 129,508 (2019)
- Time zone: UTC+5:45 · Asia/Kathmandu
- Website: https://lukla.caanepal.gov.np/
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzing-Hillary_Airport (38 languages)
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1043277
- Ident: VNLK

## Timeline

- 1964: Tenzing-Hillary Airport opens.
- 8 Oct 2008: Yeti Airlines Flight 101. 18 killed.
- 27 May 2017: Summit Air Flight 409. 2 killed.

## Runways

| Ident | Length | Width | Surface | True headings | Lighted |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 06/24 | 527 m / 1,729 ft | 20 m / 66 ft | Asphalt | 060° / 240° |  |

- 06/24 slopes 11.6%: threshold 06 at 2,784 m / 9,134 ft, threshold 24 at 2,845 m / 9,334 ft.

## Passengers per year

| Year | Passengers | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2006 | 61,992 | Wikidata |
| 2007 | 80,733 | Wikidata |
| 2008 | 92,172 | Wikidata |
| 2009 | 88,881 | Wikidata |
| 2010 | 92,011 | Wikidata |
| 2011 | 93,292 | Wikidata |
| 2014 | 87,490 | Wikidata |
| 2015 | 81,174 | Wikidata |
| 2016 | 119,801 | Wikidata |
| 2017 | 146,879 | Wikidata |
| 2018 | 124,929 | Wikidata |
| 2019 | 129,508 | Wikidata |

## Routes

3 destinations in 1 country. From the airport's Wikipedia article.

### Year-round (2)

- [RHP](https://dromopedia.com/airports/vnrc.md) Ramechhap Airport · Nepal · 73 km / 45 mi · Sita Air, Summit Air, Tara Air
- [KTM](https://dromopedia.com/airports/vnkt.md) Tribhuvan International Airport · Nepal · 135 km / 84 mi · Sita Air, Summit Air, Tara Air

### Charter (1)

- [PPL](https://dromopedia.com/airports/vnpl.md) Phaplu Airport · Nepal · 24 km / 15 mi · Tara Air

## Airlines

The figure is how many destinations each airline flies from LUA, as the routes above have them. Hubs from Wikidata.

### Passenger (3)

- [Tara Air](https://dromopedia.com/airlines/tara-air) · 3
- ST [Sita Air](https://dromopedia.com/airlines/sita-air) · 2
- [Summit Air](https://dromopedia.com/airlines/summit-air) · 2

## Rankings

Ranked among 48,075 open airports; = marks a shared place.

| Measure | Value | World | Region | Country |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Passengers | 130K (2019) | #1,724 of 3,974 | #562 in Asia | #12 in NP |
| Longest runway | 527 m / 1,729 ft | =26,748 of 29,858 | #1,953 in Asia | #23 in NP |
| Elevation | 2,859 m / 9,380 ft | #116 of 43,403 | #37 in Asia | #4 in NP |
| Age | Opened 1964 | =5,263 of 15,079 | =299 in Asia | #6 in NP |
| Runways | 1 | =4,364 of 29,978 | =185 in Asia | =1 in NP |

## Radio frequencies

| Type | Description | MHz |
| --- | --- | --- |
| TWR |  | 122.500 |
| APP |  | 122.300 |

## Nearby airports

- [DDR](https://dromopedia.com/airports/cn-0236.md) Shigatse Tingri Airport · 102 km / 64 mi
- [TPJ](https://dromopedia.com/airports/vntj.md) Taplejung Airport · 102 km / 64 mi
- [JKR](https://dromopedia.com/airports/vnjp.md) Janakpur Airport · 135 km / 84 mi
- [KTM](https://dromopedia.com/airports/vnkt.md) Tribhuvan International Airport · 135 km / 84 mi
- [BIR](https://dromopedia.com/airports/vnvt.md) Biratnagar Airport · 144 km / 90 mi

## In collections

- [Highest airports](https://dromopedia.com/collections/highest) #31
- [Steepest runways](https://dromopedia.com/collections/steepest-runways) #7
- [Shortest runways with airline service](https://dromopedia.com/collections/shortest-scheduled) #6

## Sources

- [OurAirports](https://ourairports.com/data/): Airport data from OurAirports (Public Domain)
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org): Structured data from Wikidata (CC0 1.0)
- [Wikipedia: “Tenzing-Hillary Airport”](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tenzing-Hillary_Airport&oldid=1375835835), revision of 20 Sep 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- [timezone-boundary-builder](https://github.com/evansiroky/timezone-boundary-builder): Time zone boundaries © OpenStreetMap contributors, timezone-boundary-builder (ODbL 1.0)
- Every figure with its source: https://dromopedia.com/airports/vnlk/data