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KATHMANDU: Nepali airlines have resumed rescue helicopter flights to the Everest region, an aviation industry official announced Tuesday, following weeks of suspension prompted by protests from locals citing environmental impact and loss of income from trekkers.

Helicopters are a key means of transport and crucial for emergency rescue in many remote regions around mountainous Nepal, vast stretches of which are often inaccessible by road.

But they have also been used to give mountaineering teams and tourists a shortcut over challenging terrain in the Sagarmatha National Park, home to Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak.

For those who can afford the $1,000 price tag, helicopters reduce the two-week long trek to Everest base camp to just a day — depriving Nepalis along the overland route of a key source of revenue.

In early January, the Airlines Operators Association of Nepal grounded all flights, blaming the halt on local youths who had blocked landing sites with flags.

The association also said the protesters had warned pilots who landed that they would be forced to walk back on foot.

On Tuesday, association official Pratap Jung Pandey told AFP that rescue flights were reopened Saturday “on humanitarian grounds.”

But commercial flights to the region were still suspended, as negotiations with locals for their resumption were ongoing.

“It is going in a positive direction and it should reopen soon. But I cannot say exactly when,” Pandey told AFP.

Over 50,000 tourists visit the Everest region every year.

According to the association, the Everest region sees about 15 helicopter flights per day in the winter and up to 60 per day during peak tourist season.

“Rescue flights are crucial in mountaineering to save lives of climbers if anything happens,” said Mingma Gyalje Sherpa who runs Imagine Nepal, a mountaineering expedition company.

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations confirmed Tuesday it had received notification from Washington of its withdrawal from the Paris climate change agreement, a key campaign pledge of US President Donald Trump.
On his first day back in the White House, Trump announced the United States would leave the accord, which is managed by the UN climate change body. It brings together almost all the world’s nations and aims to keep global average temperature rise below a critical threshold.
“I can confirm to you that the United States has notified the secretary-general, in his capacity as a depository, of its withdrawal on January 27 of this year from the Paris agreement,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres.
“According to Article 28, paragraph two, of the Paris agreement, the withdrawal of the United States will take effect on January 27, 2026.”
Washington typically provides 22 percent of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat’s budget, with the body’s operating costs for 2024-2025 projected at $96.5 million.
Billionaire entrepreneur Michael Bloomberg has announced that his foundation will step in to meet the shortfall.
The secretariat is tasked with supporting the global response to climate threats, and organizes international climate conferences, the next of which will be COP30 held in Brazil in November.