The Air China Southwest Branch Company announced that it on
Wednesday conducted a successful test flight to the Nyingchi
Airport in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.
However, the timing of a regular air service route between
Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, and the airport is still
hard to decide, says Yi Shizhong with the publicity section of the
Air China Southwest Branch Company.
"Weather will be the only factor that will decide when the
regular air service route will start," says Yi, who declined to
disclose the type of the plane used to fly the test flight.
The Nyingchi Airport, built at a cost of 780 million yuan (about
US$96.18 million), including investment from the General
Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC), is the third
civilian airport in Tibet. The other two are in Lhasa and
Qamdo.
With a 3,000-meter-long runway, the new airport, situated inside
Nyingchi Prefecture and 400 kilometers from Tibet's regional
capital Lhasa, was completed on April 28.
Construction of the Nyingchi Airport began in October 2004, with
a designed annual passenger flow of 120,000. The airport is located
at 2,949 meters above sea level, lower than the other two civil
airports.
Nyingchi Prefecture, covering 117,000 square kilometers and
bordering India and Myanmar, is known for its humid and mild
climate, beautiful landscape and rich natural resources.
About 120 kilometers from the Nyingchi Airport is the Yarlung
Zangbo River Grand Canyon, the world's largest canyon that is often
referred to as the last secret land.
Because of the geographic location, the Nyingchi Airport is
considered one of the most difficult airports to fly into.
Meteorological records show the airworthy time at the airport only
adds up to 100 days a year.
(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2006)