The Lhasa Gongga Airport Photo: IC

The civil aviation sector in China's southwestern Xizang Autonomous Region has made remarkable progress as the operation capacity saw a large increase over the past 10 years, further supporting the economic development of the region, the local office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said. 

Over the past decade, a total of 438,000 flights departed from and arrived at airports in Xizang completing 45.6 million passenger-trips in addition to 368,000 tons of cargo, far more than the accumulative volume before 2012. Flight transport volume accounted for 32.15 percent of Xizang's entire transport volume in 2020, while the percentage was 15.28 percent in 2012, the office said. 

Zhang Wei, an official from Xizang, stated that local CAAC office has launched 10 infrastructure projects backed by 20 billion yuan in investment. In addition, Xizang also initiated the largest number of aviation infrastructure projects including three new airports and improvement to Lhasa Gongga Airport and Xigaze Heping Airport in the years.

In 2019, the civil aviation sector generated nearly 18 billion yuan ($2.5 billion) toward local GDP, accounting for 11 percent of the local GDP. The five airports in the region created over 30,000 jobs for local residents, Zhang said.

The Xizang office of CAAC noted that, by 2025, the annual flight passenger capacity of Xizang's airports would reach 10 million, while cargo transport volume is forecast to reach 80,000 tons, with an estimated 100,000 inbound and outbound flights each year. 

Global Times