A New Year surprise: Choppers banned for Everest sightseeing

Nepal: On October 27, around 50 individuals of a high-profile group of American corporate CEOs flew to Everest for a sightseeing tour. Over 15 chopper flights were conducted from Lukla to 5,545 meter-high Kala Patthar. They clicked photos and selfies for a few minutes and returned to Kathmandu.

photo: TKP

 The group spent nearly Rs16.20 million on chopper reservations, excluding other expenses such as hotels, transport, and national park fees, which could be worth millions of dollars.

“They were high-end visitors to Nepal, who had money but no time,” said Anil Manandhar, corporate manager of Shree Airlines, Nepal’s largest helicopter operator. “As high-end tourism contributes to the long-term economic welfare of destinations, the government must know how to promote them.”

But on Wednesday, chopper operators received a big jolt—beyond their imagination.

From January 1, choppers will be barred from conducting sightseeing tours in the Everest region.

The Sagarmatha National Park, which hosts Mt Everest, issued a circular informing all helicopter companies that they can no longer operate sightseeing flights in the national park.

“We are taking this unpopular decision to provide justice to wildlife,” said Sushma Rana, senior conservation officer of the park, which has headquarters at Namche Bazaar. Helicopters have also been banned from transporting cargo above Pangboche at 3,985 metres above sea level.

“The rule, however, will not apply to rescue flights,” said Rana.

The park was established on July 19, 1976, and covers an area of 1,148 square kilometres in the Solukhumbu district. In 1979, in recognition of its superlative natural phenomena and unique culture, the park was included on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list.

“The chopper-ban is a very strange decision that will deal a huge blow to high-end tourism,” said Manandhar.

Already, there are restrictions. From Kathmandu, helicopters can carry four passengers in a light and medium helicopter up to Lukla. From Lukla, the chopper can take only two passengers to Kala Patthar. Choppers are restricted from landing at the Everest base camp but can make an overfly.

So, the tour operator’s itinerary usually includes the Kathmandu-Lukla-Kala Patthar flight. From there, tourists take lunch at Everest View Hotel in Syangboche and fly back.

Revenue-wise, a tourist pays around Rs10,000 under different categories: Rs3,000 for park conservation, Rs2,000 for village development, and Rs900 for airport. Separately, helicopters pay Rs3,000 for each landing and parking.

“The Everest sightseeing tour is Nepal’s premium product, which we have not marketed well. It can bring high-end tourists from around the world,” said Manandhar. In the peak season, there are 8-10 such flights.

On Thursday, operators held an emergency meeting with the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, the civil aviation regulator. The Airlines Operators’ Association of Nepal said it would only honour the regulator's decision.

Issuing a press statement on Thursday evening, the association said it would not abide by the decision made by the national park as the civil aviation regulator has the sole authority to ban flights.

The association, the umbrella body of the airline companies, said it would continue flights.

The national park has many complaints about helicopter companies that prompted it to make such a drastic decision.

Rana said they analysed three significant factors, which ultimately resulted in such an unpopular move.

First, excessive noise pollution. The noise pollution in the wildlife habitat has resulted in behavioural changes in the local animals.

“The sounds can cause wild animals to leave their habitat and run into the villages. Our studies show that accidents involving animals like Himalayan tahr and Himalayan goral, a goat-antelope with a short tail and backwards-pointing horns, are rising,” Rana said.

The shy natural goral is found foraging and sheltering in rocky faces of mountains.

“The animals jump off the cliffs in shock when choppers fly at low altitudes with big sounds. Their death cases are rising. We are doing justice to the wild animals by stopping commercial flights above the national park.”

Second, according to Rana, the park has long warned helicopters to stop haphazard landings. “But no one has abided by this decision. Besides, we suspect the smuggling of wildlife contraband,” said Rana.

“If helicopters ignore landing in the designated areas, we obviously cannot monitor them all. This gives us room to suspect that they are involved in smuggling.”

Third, the locals say the rise in heli tours has cut their jobs.

Usually, it takes 14 days for trekkers to reach Everest base camp. But most of them return by helicopter. “So chopper ride has cut jobs of porters and guides, and also affected businesses of tea houses and resorts in the Everest region,” said Rana.

The park alone did not decide to ban sightseeing. Multiple stakeholders, including the local government and the local people, are involved. The Nepal Army and local youth groups have been tasked with monitoring the ban.

In October, the park office in Namche wrote to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal in Lukla, requesting a ban on helicopter flights for commercial purposes over the national park.

Tour operators say that honest chopper companies have been made to suffer due to the wrongdoings of a few unethical ones that breach rules for “quick profit”.

“And now authorities have imposed a blanket ban,” complained a top official of a helicopter company.

In 2018, Nepal ordered a review of helicopter rescues after uncovering a multimillion-dollar scam in which climbers were pressured to take costly flights down mountains, sometimes by spiking their food.

Unscrupulous operators pocketed thousands of dollars from insurance companies by making multiple claims for a single chopper ride or pushing trekkers to agree to airlifts for minor illnesses.

Scammers can charge thousands of dollars for a helicopter rescue.

According to Rana, the conservation officer, more than 6,000 choppers fly above the national park in the spring and autumn seasons.

Rescue flights for tourists and trekkers will still be allowed. However, they, too, must secure recommendation letters from nearby health institutions, buffer zone committees, or ward offices. According to operators, rescue operations were already lengthy. “Now, the process could be impossible to complete.”

These flights must be approved by the park office, and detailed records of the individuals to be rescued must be submitted.

According to the new rule, the rescue chopper should be fully equipped, and the patient should be treated at Pasang Lhamu-Nicole Niquille Hospital in Lukla.