Ngari Günsa Airport , also known as Shiquanhe Airport is a dual-use military and civil airport serving the town of

Shiquanhe Shiquanhe (), known in Tibetan as Sênggêkanbab () or Sênggêzangbo, is the main town and administrative seat of Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Shiquanhe is located on the bank of Sênggê Zangbo, the source stream of the I ...

Ngari Prefecture Ngari Prefecture () or Ali Prefecture () is a prefecture of China's Tibet Autonomous Region covering Western Tibet, whose traditional name is Ngari Khorsum. Its administrative centre and largest settlement is the town of Shiquanhe. History Nga ...

, between Gar Chongsar and Sogmai, Günsa Township,

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions of � ...

. It started operations on 1 July 2010, becoming the fourth civil airport in Tibet after

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhas ...

Nyingchi Nyingchi (), also known as Linzhi and as Nyingtri, is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. The administrative seat of Nyingchi is Bayi District. Nyingchi is the location of Buchu Monastery. Economy ...

, and

Qamdo Chamdo, officially Qamdo () and also known in Chinese as Changdu, is a prefecture-level city in the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Its seat is the town of Chengguan in Karuo District. Chamdo is Tibet's third largest city ...

airports.''Tibet's fourth civil airport opens''
Situated at above sea level, Gunsa Airport is the fourth highest airport in the world after

Daocheng Yading Airport Daocheng Yading Airport ( zh, 稻城亚丁机场, bo, འདབ་པའི་ཉི་བརྟེན་གནམ་གྲུ་ཐང་, ) is an airport serving Daocheng County in the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan province ...

Qamdo Bamda Airport Qamdo Bamda Airport , also known as Changdu Bangda Airport, is an airport serving Qamdo (Changdu), Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is located in the village of Bamda (Bangda). Background At an elevation of above sea level, Qamdo Airport was ...

, and Kangding Airport. Gunsa airport has a 4,500-meter runway. It is expected to handle 120,000 passengers by 2020. Construction began in May 2007 and cost an estimated 1.65 billion yuan (241.22 million U.S. dollars). As

(Ali) is only a one-day bus drive (about 330 km) from the settlement of

Darchen Kangsa Village (), poetically known as Darchen, Tarchan or Taqin (, ), is a former Bhutanese enclave, currently held by the People's Republic of China and the seat of the Parga Township, Purang County, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Thus, it i ...

situated just north of

Lake Manasarovar Lake Manasarovar (Sanskrit: मानसरोवर), also called Mapam Yutso (;) locally, is a high altitude freshwater lake fed by the Kailash Glaciers near Mount Kailash in Burang County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The ...

, facing

Mount Kailash Mount Kailash (also Kailasa; ''Kangrinboqê'' or ''Gang Rinpoche''; Tibetan: གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ; ; sa, कैलास, ), is a mountain in the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It has an altitude of ...

, it is expected to benefit pilgrims to these two sites, which are considered sacred by

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

,"Pilgrims to benefit from new Tibet Airport near Mt Kailash."
/ref> Buddhists, Bonpa and

Jains Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

. With the opening of

Shigatse Peace Airport Shigatse Peace Airport , Shigatse Heping Airport, or Shigatse Air Base, is a dual-use military and civilian airport serving Shigatse, the second largest city in Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is located in Jangdam Township, from Shigatse. ...

in October 2010, the five airports, coupled with the Qinghai–Tibet railway and a network of roads, are expected to increase tourism to scenic and holy sites in Tibet.

Military buildup

Since the last major standoff between China and India at

Doklam Doklam (), called Donglang () by China, is an area in Bhutan with a high plateau and a valley, lying between China's Chumbi Valley to the north, Bhutan's Ha District to the east and India's Sikkim state to the west. It has been depicted as p ...

in 2017 military presence at the Ngari Gunsa Airport has been expanded with Shenyang J-16s and J-11s fighter jets stationed. The airport is 200 kilometres from

Pangong Tso Pangong Tso or Pangong Lake (; ; hi, text=पैंगोंग झील) is an endorheic lake spanning eastern Ladakh and West Tibet situated at an elevation of . It is long and divided into five sublakes, called ''Pangong Tso'', ''Tso N ...

, Ladakh.

Airlines and destinations

Footnotes

References

*Albinia, Alice. (2008) ''Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River''. First American Edition (2010) W. W. Norton & Company, New York. . *Dorje, Gyurme. (2009) ''Tibet Handbook''. Footprint Handbooks, Bath, England. . * Mayhew, Bradley and Kohn, Michael. (2005) ''Tibet''. 6th Edition. . {{authority control Airports in the Tibet Autonomous Region Airports established in 2010 2010 establishments in China Ngari Prefecture

Military buildup

Airlines and destinations

See also

Footnotes

References