A plane takes off from the terminal of Daocheng Yading Airport in Daocheng county of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province September 16, 2013. The airport, at 4,411 metres (14,472 feet) above sea level, surpassed the Qamdo Bangda Airport which has an altitude of 4,334 metres (14,219 feet), and became the highest airport in the world after its inauguration on Monday Sep 16,2013
China opened the world's highest civilian airport on Monday Sep 16,2013 in a restive and remote Tibetan region of southwestern Sichuan province, which will cut journey times from the provincial capital from two days by bus to a little more than one hour by air.
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
Daocheng airport in Garzi, a heavily ethnic Tibetan part of Sichuan, is 4,411 meters (14,472 feet) above sea level, and overtakes Qamdo airport in Tibet, which sits at 4,334 metres above sea level, for the title of world's highest
The official Xinhua news agency said flights would initially connect with Chengdu, the provincial capital, otherwise a two-day bus trip away. Flights to cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing will begin at a later date.
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, Xinhua added
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