Jan. 13 – China has announced plans to build the world’s highest airport at an altitude of 4,436 meters in Tibet.
The new airport will be located at Nagqu located 300 kilometers north of Lhasa at the center of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. Nagqu is connected to Highway 109 which spans north to Golmud and another Highway 317 which links east into Sichuan Province.
The airport will be another feat of engineering just 764 meters lower than the Mount Everest base camp on the Chinese side already located 5,200 meters above sea level. The Nagqu airport is the sixth one in Tibet and upon completion will give the region one airport per prefecture.
The new airport will be build higher than another Tibetan airport in Bangda, Qamdo at an elevation of 4,334 meters. “With the airport, Nagqu, which is also on the Qinghai-Tibet railway line, is expected to become the center of an economic hub in the plateau region,” Tan Yongshou, commissioner of the prefecture, was quoted by The Guardian as saying.
Xu Bo, director of the Tibetan branch of the China civil aviation administration commented: “The objective for the next stage of development is to open direct air routes from Tibet to South Asian countries.”
China Briefing’s Regional Business Guide to West China includes a large amount of information about Tibet and can be purchased here.
