01 September 2006
New airport opens in Nyingchi
(AFP) The PRC government opened a new airport in the TAR in order to further boost the region's tourist potential, state media said. A first plane touched down at the new airport at Nyingchi after a 90-minute flight from Chengdu, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The airport, which is the third to be opened in the TAR after one in Lhasa and another in Chamdo (Chin: Qamdo), was built in less than two years and cost 780m Yuan (UK₤50.4m; US$96.2m; EUR€74.9m), the report said. The airport hopes to welcome 120,000 passengers a year.