Incredible £200m airport thousands of feet above sea level | World | News
The world’s highest airport is more than 4,000 metres above sea level and serves a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Daocheng Yading Airport is in Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China, and has been the world’s highest civilian flight hub since it opened in 2013.
It has a runway 4,200 metres long (14,472ft) by 45 metres wide (147ft) and can take Boeing 737s and Airbus A319s, handling up to 1,200 passengers per hour, according to Aviationfile.com.
The hub serves Yading Nature Reserve, hailed by the United Nation’s heritage organisation UNESCO for its biological diversity and cultural significance as home to three sacred mountains.
Air China Flight 4215 on an Airbus A319 from the provincial capital, Chengdu, was the first flight to the hub. It carried 118 passengers, according to China’s Central News Agency.
Because the airport is so high up, passengers are advised to acclimatise to the altitude before flying.
Jets have to take off and land at slower speeds as they arrive and depart for major cities across China. This is because air is thinner at higher altitudes and reduces aircraft wings’ ability to generate lift.
Safe landings can be a challenge too, with strong winds and turbulence commoner at higher altitudes, according to Aviationfile.com. Sichuan Travel Guide reports that most flights stop in winter, due to bad weather.
The nearest town to the airport is Daocheng, which is about an hour’s drive away. There are also shuttle buses from Doacheng to Daocheng Yading Airport, which is also known as Kangding Airport.
Arguably one of the most striking features of the airport is its flying saucer-shaped terminal building, which measures 5,000 sq metres.
In total, the airport cost more than £200million to build and cut the journey time between Daocheng and Chengdu to an hour. It had required a two day long trip by bus to make the trip before the hub opened, Reuters reported.
The news agency said in 2013 that the airport formed part of China’s efforts to boost its economy, with new airports built and existing ones revamped.
Some of the airports are in Tibetan areas where local populations resent Chinese control. It is reported that the hubs can not only serve civilians, but also allow troops to be flown in quickly when there is unrest.
Before Daocheng Yading took the crown as the world’s highest airport, the record was held by Qamdo Bamda Airport, which is also in the Tibet Autonomous Region. It is 4,334 metres above sea level.
