Ngari Gunsa Airport

Ngari Gunsa Airport – Brief Introduction

Ngari Gunsa Airport is located in the southwestern Gaer Town (also noted as Shiquanhe Town) in Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region. It is planned to cover an area of 240 hectors. The airport runway enjoys a length of 4500 meters and a width of 45 meters. The construction area of the terminal covers an area of 3900 square meters. Ngari Gunsa Airport is another landing site except for the Lhasa Gonggar Airport, Qamdo Bangda Airport and Nyingchi Milin Airport for tourists planning a Tibet tour by air.

Ngari Gunsa Airport is located in the Zangbo River Valley Area in Gaer Town with an altitude of 4274 meters. It ranks only second to the Qamdo Bangda Airport with an altitude of 4334 meters and Kangding Airport with an altitude of 4280 meters among the highest airports above the sea level. The maiden flight in Ngari Gunsa Airport was succeeded on May 27th, 2010 and the airport was formally put into operation on July 1st 2010.

Ngari Gunsa Airport – Aviation Difficulty

Ngari Gunsa Airport is quite noted for its aviation difficulty. Ngari Gunsa Airport is located in the valley surrounded by Himalayas and Gangdise Mountains, the take-off and landing of the plane could be only completed in the winding mountain valley with numerous high mountain barriers. Besides, the complicated and changeable climate on Ngari Plateau also adds more difficulty for the take-off and landing at Ngari Gunsa Airport.

It is measured that there are 120 days with wind stronger than 8-class gale each year. Ngari Plateau is sparsely covered vegetations and that causes the temperature of Ngari Gunsa Airport rising quickly in the day. The high altitude and temperature would greatly influence the flight performance and the plane capacity. Hence, planes at Ngari Gunsa Airport could only take off or land in the morning. The total time suitable for aviation in this airport is even less than half of that of the airports in the plain area.

Ngari Gunsa Airport – Significance

The construction of Ngari Gunsa Airport is of great significance for the development of Ngari tourism. Ngari Plateau attracts a large number of tourists interested in Tibet adventure tours with its magnificent natural landscapes and mysterious historical spots, including the Tsaparang and Ruin of the Guge Kingdom. Ngari Plateau enjoys an average altitude of 4500 meters is about 1600 kilometers away from Lhasa. It is widely regarded as "the roof of the roof of the world" for a lot of high mountains collects here, including the Himalayas, Gandise Mountains and Karakoram Mountains.

Mt. Kailash and Lake Manasarovar (also called Mapam Yumtso) are two most noted natural scenic spots on Ngari Plateau. Mt. Kailash is highly respected as the center of the world by the followers of Tibetan Buddhism and Hinduism all around the world. A large number of tourists would like to make kora around Mt. Kailash or circumambulate around Lake Manasarovar between May and October each year. Tourists and pilgrims from different corners of the world could reach Ngari easily after the open of Ngari Gunsa Airport. It takes only about 2 hours to fly to Ngari from Lhasa.