March 25: With the onset of the trekking and mountaineering season, airline companies have started daily flights to Lukla from Ramechhap's Manthali Airport. Tara Air, Summit Air and Sita Air have started regular flights to Solukhumbu's Lukla from Sunday.

It is believed that operation of flights from Manthali to Lukla and vice-versa will make the travel of tourists to the gateway of Mt Everest easier. Since the Tribhuvan International Airport is busy during the tourist season, airlines bring tourists to Manthali and fly them to Lukla to avoid traffic jams.

A large number of foreign tourists visit Lukla twice a year for hiking and climbing. Besides the spring season, a large number of tourists also visit the Khumbu region from the first week of October to the first week of November.

Praveen Subedi, Ramechhap in-charge of Tara Air, said that the number of tourists visiting the Everest region from March to May this year is very high. He informed that the airline companies decided to start flights to Lukla from Manthali on Friday, but the flights could not take place that day due to bad weather.

Pooja Thapa, acting chief at the Office of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, Ramechhap, said that regular flights have been started from Sunday with the improvement in the weather. -- RSS