Drukair

Drukair is the national airline of Bhutan and flies to a few destinations fom the only international airport in the country at Paro. By the way, we finally learned that it’s pronounced “drookair”.

Fares on Drukair are predictably high. A one way from Kathmandu to Paro runs about $200 for the one hour flight. We sprang for a $75 upgrade to business in order to have a better chance at getting a left-side window for a view of Everest. We were quite comfortable in these seats.

For the one hour flight they even served a light snack of a cheese sandwich, something unrecognizable, and a piece of cake with refreshments.

As we began our descent we started to see the incredible beauty that is Bhutan.

Amazing right?

Our first look at Paro town as we landed.

Two really cool things about this particular segment of flying. The first is that you get to see Mt. Everest off to the side of the aircraft (left side from Kathmandu to Paro, right side from Paro to Kathmandu).

The second is the landing in Paro. It’s recognized as one of the most challenging in the world because the airport in Paro is located in a narrow valley between two mountains and in order for the aircraft to get low enough to land it has to follow a “channel” between the mountains before making a blind right turn at a couple hundred feet off the ground just before landing. Pilots must be specifically trained to land here and only a few are. We took a time-lapse video of the landing so that you could come along!

Once we landed we got our first look at the Paro airport terminal. It looks just like a traditional Bhutanese building.

And then after the aircraft parked we exited down the stairs to the magical Kingdom of Bhutan!

We are here for two action packed days. Can’t wait to see what we’re going to see!