Kashi Airport is located in the northern part of Kashi City, Kashi Prefecture, 10 kilometers from the city proper. In April 1993, the State Council ratified it as an international port for air shipments.
Kashi is a city with strategic significance in southern Xinjiang, the front gate of China's opening to Central, West and South Asia. The original flight traffic area of the airport was graded 4D, with a cement runway on which a medium-sized plane such as a B737 could take off and land. The terminal building is 4,856 square meters. A new 200-million-yuan (US$24.2 million) 4E-grade standard runway was put into use at the end of 1999, but it is still unavailable to international business. When it is fully opened, the commodity volume handled here is expected to reach 10,000 tons annually while passenger traffic will run to 50,000-100,000 person-times.
(China.org.cn December 15, 2004)
