Located about 5 km from Daocheng County, Ganzi Prefecture, the under-construction Sela Airport is expected to open for helicopters by the end of this year and for sub-route flights next year. Thus Chengdu passengers will be able to enjoy the 1hour air trip to reach the "Shangri-La" in Sichuan.
Sichuan Airlines, Ganzi Prefecture Government, Daocheng County Government and Sichuan Airlines West Flight Service Co., Ltd. signed the "Cooperation Agreement on Developing Daocheng Tourism Aviation Business" recently so as to explore the "Shangri-La".
At present, passengers have to suffer the tough long bus trip about 2 or 3 days to Daocheng due to the 810 km distance. The isolation has been the biggest obstacle for the development of local tourism for a rather long period. After repeated research and inspection, local government decided to invest 50 mln yuan first in building the airport mentioned above.
(Sichuang News net 10/11/2000)
