Shangri-La Air was an

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

based in

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

. It partly merged with Necon Air in 2001 and eventually ceased operations in 2008.

History

The airline started operations in October 1999 with one

De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restarted ...

aircraft. Its name is derived from

Shangri-La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel ''Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, ge ...

, a fictitious place described in James Hilton's 1933

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

Lost Horizon ''Lost Horizon'' is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. The book was turned into a film, also called ''Lost Horizon'', in 1937 by director Frank Capra. It is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamaser ...

.. In 2001 Shangri-La Air and

Karnali Air Karnali Air Pvt. Ltd. was a helicopter airline based at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, operating chartered helicopter services. It merged with Necon Air in 2001 but kept operating under its name. History In 2001 Karnali A ...

were partly merged into Necon Air. Shangri-La Air was operating a fleet of six aircraft, two

Beechcraft 1900D The Beechcraft 1900 is a 19-passenger, pressurized twin-engine turboprop regional airliner manufactured by Beechcraft. It is also used as a freight aircraft and corporate transport, and by several governmental and military organizations. With c ...

s and four

s. Necon Air took over the Beechcraft, and Shangri-La continued operating the DHC-6s. In August 2002, after the loss of one DHC-6, the airline operated only two aircraft. In 2007 its fleet consisted of only one DHC-6, until its closure in 2008.

Destinations

Shangri-La Air regularly served the following destinations, some of which were discontinued before its closure: It also ran scheduled mountain sightseeing flights from

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

to the

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...

range. They usually departed in the early morning hours and returned one hour later.

Fleet

At the time of closure, Shangri-La Air operated the following aircraft:

Former fleet

Incidents and accidents

*22 August 2002 - 2002 Shangri-La Air Twin Otter Crash

References

External links

* {{Airlines of Nepal Defunct airlines of Nepal Airlines established in 1999 Airlines disestablished in 2001 1999 establishments in Nepal 2008 disestablishments in Nepal