Shangri-La Air


Shangri-La Air was an airline based in Nepal. It partly merged with Necon Air in 2001 and eventually ceased to operate in 2008.

History

The airline was established in 1999 and started operations in October 1999 with oneDe Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft.
The airline's name is derived from the fictional place Shangri-La described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton..
In 2001 Shangri-La Air was, along with Karnali Air partly merged into Necon Air. At this point Shangri-La Air was operating a fleet of six aircraft; two Beechcraft 1900Ds and four De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters. This meant that Necon Air was taking over Shangri-La Air's Beechcraft 1900D, while Shangri-La Air still operated its fleet of Twin Otters.
In 2002, Shangri-La Air still operated a fleet of three DHC-6-300 Twin Otters. After the loss of one DHC-6 in August 2002, the airline operated only two aircraft. From 2007, the airline's fleet consisted of only one DHC-6-300, which was operated until the airline's closure in 2008.

Destinations

Shangri-La Air regularly served the following destinations, which were cancelled either at the closure of operations or before:
CityAirportNotesRefs
BhairahawaGautam Buddha Airport
BharatpurBharatpur Airport
JomsomJomsom Airport
KathmanduTribhuvan International Airport
LuklaTenzing–Hillary Airport
PhapluPhaplu Airport
PokharaPokhara Airport
RumjatarRumjatar Airport
Pipara SimaraSimara Airport

Shangri-La Air also operated scheduled mountain sightseeing flights from Kathmandu to Mount Everest range. The flights usually departed in the early morning hours and return to the airport one hour later.

Fleet

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

AircraftIn fleetNotes
De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter1

Former Fleet


AircraftIn fleetNotes
Beechcraft 1900D2
De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter3

Incidents and accidents