The extension project for Rikaze Heping Airport is coming into operation

The opening ceremony for the extension project of the Rikaze Heping Airport was held in Jiangdang country of Rikaze city. Once the extension project is completed, Rikaze Heping Airport, which is constructed according to 4C standards for national feeder airline airports, will be the fifth civil aviation airport in Tibet.
The construction for this project will last two years, with an investment of about 480 million RMB, and is estimated to be completed by the end of 2010. Mr. Xu Bo, Director for Civil Aviation Bureau of Tibet Autonomous Region, said that in Tibet now, there are Gonggar Airport of Lhasa, Milin Airport of Nyingchi and Bangda Airport of Qamdo which is the worlds highest altitude airport. Construction for the Gunsa Airport of Ngari has been seeing good progress. Once the extension project of Rikaze Heping Airport is completed, it will become the fifth civil airport to be operational in Tibet. It is said that Rikaze Airport will be constructed in accordance with 4C standards for national feeder airline airports, in order to satisfy the civil aviation needs of the area. This extension project contains 5,000 meters of concrete runway, one vertical taxiway, a terminal of 3000 square meters, 3 stations for type C apron, a parking lot of 3,000 square meters, and corresponding affiliated equipment for air traffic control, freight, utilities, fuel farm, and supporting areas. Rikaze Airport is designed to achieve a passenger throughput of 230,000 in 2020,and cargo volume of 1,150 tons and satisfy the needs for 2,580 take-offs and landings. Rikaze Heping Airport, with an altitude of 3,782 meters, is located in Jiangdang country in Rikaze city, which is 48 km away from downtown. Rikaze region is a minority area under Tibetan leadership. The administrative city of Rikaze is the second biggest city in Tibet. Within the region, there are several famous old temples and tourism spots, including Tashilhunpo Monastery, Sakya Kloster, Pelkhor Choede, MT Everest and many others.