Nonstop flight route between Impfondo, Republic of the Congo and Lukla, Nepal:
Departure Airport:

Arrival Airport:

Distance from ION to LUA:
Share this route:
Jump to:
- About this route
- ION Airport Information
- LUA Airport Information
- Facts about ION
- Facts about LUA
- Map of Nearest Airports to ION
- List of Nearest Airports to ION
- Map of Furthest Airports from ION
- List of Furthest Airports from ION
- Map of Nearest Airports to LUA
- List of Nearest Airports to LUA
- Map of Furthest Airports from LUA
- List of Furthest Airports from LUA
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Impfondo Airport (ION), Impfondo, Republic of the Congo and Tenzing-Hillary Airport (LUA), Lukla, Nepal would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,868 miles (or 7,834 kilometers).
A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between Impfondo Airport and Tenzing-Hillary Airport, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.
Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between Impfondo Airport and Tenzing-Hillary Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | ION / FCOI |
Airport Name: | Impfondo Airport |
Location: | Impfondo, Republic of the Congo |
GPS Coordinates: | 1°35'21"N by 18°2'42"E |
Area Served: | Impfondo, Republic of the Congo |
Elevation: | 1099 feet (335 meters) |
View all routes: | Routes from ION |
More Information: | ION Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | LUA / VNLK |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Lukla, Nepal |
GPS Coordinates: | 27°41'14"N by 86°43'54"E |
Area Served: | Lukla, Nepal |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 9383 feet (2,860 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from LUA |
More Information: | LUA Maps & Info |
Facts about Impfondo Airport (ION):
- The closest airport to Impfondo Airport (ION) is Bétou Airport (BTB), which is located 106 miles (170 kilometers) NNE of ION.
- The furthest airport from Impfondo Airport (ION) is Cassidy International Airport (CXI), which is nearly antipodal to Impfondo Airport (meaning Impfondo Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Cassidy International Airport), and is located 12,034 miles (19,367 kilometers) away in Christmas Island, Kiribati.
Facts about Tenzing-Hillary Airport (LUA):
- Tenzing-Hillary Airport (LUA) currently has only 1 runway.
- Lukla flights or flights to Tenzing-Hillary airport start in the early morning to mid day.
- The closest airport to Tenzing-Hillary Airport (LUA) is Phaplu Airport (PPL), which is located only 15 miles (24 kilometers) SW of LUA.
- The airport's paved asphalt runway is only accessible to helicopters and small, fixed-wing, short-takeoff-and-landing aircraft such as the De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, Dornier Do 228, and Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter.
- Because of Tenzing-Hillary Airport's high elevation of 9,383 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at LUA. Combined with a high temperature, this could make LUA a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
- The airport is popular because Lukla is the place where most people start the climb to Mount Everest Base Camp.
- The furthest airport from Tenzing-Hillary Airport (LUA) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is located 11,446 miles (18,421 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.
- Aircraft can only use runway 06 for landings and runway 24 for takeoffs.There is no prospect of a successful go-around on short final due to the terrain.
- In addition to being known as "Tenzing-Hillary Airport", another name for LUA is "तेन्जिङ हिलारी विमानस्थल".