China opens its 5th civilian airport in ‘Tibet’

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Tibetan Review
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China’s fifth civilian airport in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) part of occupied Tibet opened for air traffic Oct 30 in Shigatse (Chinese: Xigaze) Prefecture with the landing of an Air China Airbus 319 at 9:50 AM, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Oct 30.

The report said the Xigaze Peace Airport in Jiangdang (Jangdam) Township will handle 230,000 passengers and 1,150 tonnes of cargo each year by 2020.

The airport, located 3,782 metres above sea level, is the fifth civilian airport in the TAR, after those at Lhasa, Nyingchi (Tibetan: Nyingtri), Qamdo (Tibetan: Chamdo) and Ngari. It is 43 km away from the heart of Shigatse Prefecture, reported China’s online Tibet news service eng.tibet.cn Oct 30.

The Xinhua report said the airport was built with an investment of 532 million yuan (US $79.7 million), with the construction work begun Apr’09.

The report said that over the past five years, China had poured in over 70 billion yuan into TAR for 188 projects to boost the regional economy and promote tourism. It added that most of the projects were for infrastructure.