West China

Tibet's Bangda Airport reopens after runway repair

2013-08-06 09:18:51

LHASA, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Tibet's Bangda Airport, the world's highest-altitude civilian airport currently in use, reopened on Monday after runway repairs that took more than 40 days.

Flight TV9849 from Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, landed at Bangda Airport and flight TV9850 left there for Lhasa on Monday. Both flights were operated by Tibet Airlines, carrying 197 passengers and 2.77 tonnes of luggage and cargo in total.

Workers recently completed the repair of the 19-year-old, 5-km-long runway of the airport in Qamdo Prefecture. It had suffered great damage after a long time in use.

The airport was closed on June 22 for the work.

With the reopening, the airport will have a return flight from Lhasa to Qamdo every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, operated by Tibet Airlines. Air China will operate a return flight from Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, to Qamdo every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

With an elevation of 4,334 meters above sea level, the airport's record altitude will eventually be topped by the 4,411-meter-high Daocheng Yading Airport in Sichuan. The Yading airport is expected to be put into use this year.

Editor:Zhang Yi