Shangri-La Air

The airline was established in 1999 and started operations in October 1999 with oneDe Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft.[3] 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.[2]

In 2002, Shangri-La Air still operated a fleet of three DHC-6-300 Twin Otters.[4] After the loss of one DHC-6 in August 2002, the airline operated only two aircraft.[5] From 2007, the airline's fleet consisted of only one DHC-6-300, which was operated until the airline's closure in 2008.[6]

Shangri-La Air regularly served the following destinations, which were cancelled either at the closure of operations or before:[3]

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.[7]

At the time of closure, Shangri-La Air operated the following aircraft:[2]

• 22 August 2002 - 2002 Shangri-La Air Twin Otter Crash: A Shangri-La Air De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300, on a flight from Jomsom to Pokhara, crashed into a hill which was under complete cloud cover following 3 days of continuous rain. All 3 crew and 15 passengers were killed.[8]

• "Shangri-La Air Pvt. Ltd. Your doorway to the sky!". Shangri-La Air. Archived from the original on 5 February 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2015.