Qamdo Bamda Airport , also known as Changdu Bangda Airport, is an airport serving
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 ...
(Changdu),
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 ...
, China. It is located in the village of Bamda (Bangda).
Background
At an elevation of above sea level, Qamdo Airport was formerly the
highest airport in the world. It was surpassed by
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 ...
, with an elevation of , on 16 September 2013.
It has a very long runway, at , a necessary feature due to the reduction in engine and lift performance that aircraft are subject to at altitude, requiring higher than normal lift-off speeds and therefore longer take-off and landing runs.
Runway repairs took place in 2007 and 2013 after decay from the weather. Construction of a new runway has been completed, and the original runway has been closed.
Airlines and destinations