Xining Caojiabao International Airport , also called Caojiapu Airport, is an airport serving

Xining Xining (; ), alternatively known as Sining, is the capital of Qinghai province in western China and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau. The city was a commercial hub along the Northern Silk Road's Hexi Corridor for over 2000 years, and w ...

, the capital of

Qinghai Province Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest pop ...

, China. It is located in Huzhu County,

Haidong Haidong (; Wylie: Haitung) is a prefecture-level city of Qinghai province in Western China. Its name literally means "east of the (Qinghai) Lake." On 8 February 2013 Haidong was upgraded from a prefecture () into a prefecture-level city. Haido ...

, on the

Tibetan Plateau The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the ...

about east of downtown Xining. The airport began operation in 1991, and in October 2011 a new 3,800 meter long runway was built to replace the old one.

History

The first airport of Xining was located west of the current airport near the town of Lejiawan. Built on orders of warlord Ma Bufang in 1931, it started limited civilian use in 1933. In 1957, the runway was expanded to and more facilities were added. The only regular route was between Xining and Lanzhou with less than 1,000 passengers annually travelling through the airport. Later, a once-a-week route to Beijing would be added. In 1975, plans were made to relocate the airport, as the Lejiawan Airport was limited by a one-way gravel runway. Construction of Caojiabao airport was approved by the State Council on 17 May 1985 and started in 1989. The airport opened in December 1991. The site of the former airport is now a military base.

Airlines and destinations