China launches highest civilian airport to boost tourism

PanARMENIAN.Net - China has begun flight operations at the world's highest civilian airport in a bid to boost tourism, the Associated Press reports.

At an elevation of 4,411 meters (14,472 feet) above sea level, Daocheng Yading Airport Garzi, a heavily ethnic Tibetan part of Sichuan province, replaces the previous champion, Bangda Airport in the Tibet Autonomous Region, which sits at 4,334 meters (14,219 feet).

Aircraft engines produce less thrust at such elevations because of the much thinner air, calling for longer runways. The one at Daocheng Yading is 4,200 meters (13,780 feet) long, just 242 meters (794 feet) shorter than the longest runway at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

State media say flights from the new airport that began Monday will slash travel time from scenic Daocheng Yading to Sichuan's provincial capital of Chengdu from two days by bus to just 65 minutes.

The 1.58 billion yuan ($258 million) airport, designed to handle 280,000 passengers a year, will help open up the nearby Yading Nature Reserve to tourism.

China has embarked upon a multi-billion-dollar program in recent years to revamp old airports and build new ones, especially in the remote west, as a way of boosting the economy.

Some of these airports have been located in Tibetan regions, whose population chafes at Chinese political control, and often have a dual military purpose so troops can be bought in quickly during periods of unrest. Garzi has been the scene of numerous self-immolation protests against Chinese rule in the last three years or so and remains under tight security.