In six decades, Xizang's civil aviation soars to new heights

LHASA -- Southwest China's Xizang autonomous region saw its annual passenger throughput surpass 8 million as of Monday in 2025, a record high for the plateau region.

The number of takeoffs and landings is expected to surge 6 percent to 71,000 flights in the year, with the handling volume up 5.7 percent in passenger transport and 7.7 percent in the cargo and mail sector, according to the regional civil aviation authorities.

The growth marks a stark contrast to 60 years ago, when the region welcomed its first civil aviation flight in the regional capital Lhasa.

"Back then, seeing even one plane fly in was a sensation for the whole city," Padma Dondrup, a 68-year-old Lhasa resident, recalled, while waiting for her flight at Lhasa Konggar International Airport (LKIA).

On March 1, 1965, an Il-18 aircraft departed Beijing, stopped over in Chengdu, capital of the neighboring Sichuan province, and landed at the airport of Damxung in Lhasa the next day, marking the opening of the region's first air route and the beginning of its civil aviation development.

Sitting on a grassland at 4,230 meters above sea level, Damxung airport was China's first plateau airport operating above 4,000 meters. However, its high altitude, harsh climate and location 180 kilometers from downtown Lhasa limited its handling capacity. As a result, a new airport opened in 1966 in the lower-lying Yarlung Zangbo River valley, which has since developed into the LKIA, Xizang's aviation hub today at an altitude of some 3,500 meters.

Hu Jinfa, a veteran official who retired from the regional branch of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, joined the LKIA in the early 1980s before being transferred to the airport in Xizang's Qamdo in the 1990s, when the airport launched civil services.

Hu said that as winter came early in the plateau region, the runways often got covered with snow and ice.

"To keep flights on schedule, airport staff and even waiting passengers often pitched in to clear them with brooms, shovels and makeshift plows," he recalled.

In the early years of operation, passenger flights mainly served government officials on business trips, patients and women unable to make long road journeys, while cargo flights brought in vegetables and other daily necessities that were once scarce on the plateau.

Over the past decades, the region has expanded from one single route to 193 routes connecting 81 cities, with eight civil airports linking major cities across China.

Now, inbound goods range from fresh perishables and cold-chain pharmaceuticals to valuables and other high-value-added products. Outbound cargo has expanded as well, featuring a growing share of Xizang's specialties such as caterpillar fungi, yak meat, barley products, Tibetan medicine and handicrafts.

"Not only are unique Tibetan products reaching markets across China, but quality goods from across the country are also reaching South Asian markets through Xizang's flights," said Zhang Wei, a customs official at the LKIA.

With the tourism boom in Xizang, the composition of air passengers has shifted significantly, with tourists making up an increasingly larger share.

"It only took a few hours for tourists to arrive here," said Hu Yonghua, a homestay owner in Purang County of Ngari Prefecture, the region's remotest area known for its breathtaking landscapes and ancient relics.

In 2024, the prefecture received a total of 2.5 million domestic and international tourists, 40.8 times more than before the opening of the Ngari Gunsa Airport in 2010.

At the same time, an increasing number of Xizang residents are flying to other parts of China for travel, study and work.

At the departure hall of the LKIA, Padma Dondrup was ready to board her flight to Shanghai with her granddaughter.

"Now that my granddaughter is heading to university, I'll fly with her and finally see the lights along the Bund in Shanghai with my own eyes," she said.