Airport Brief Facts
Ngari Gunsa Airport, or Ali Airport, is situated 45km from southwest Shiquanhe Town. It was opened in 1st July 2010 and became another important entrance to Tibet. It took about four years to finish Ngari Airport. This airport is one of the high plateau airports which are able to serve the takeoff and landing of the High-plateau-typed airplanes. At present, tourists can get to Ngari from Lhasa, Urumqi and Kashgar by flight.
IATA Code: NGQ
ICAO Code: ZUAL
Chinese Name: 阿里昆莎机场
Altitude: 4,274 meters
Address: Gunsa Village, Shiquanhe Town, Ngari prefecture
Major Connected Cities: Lhasa, Urumqi, Kashgar
Overview of Ngari Gunsa Airport
Served as a dual-use military and civil airport, Ngari Gunsa Airport is the fourth civil airport in Tibet after Lhasa Gonggar Airport, Qamdo Bangda Airport and Nyingchi Mainling Airport. With an elevation of 4,274 meters, Ngari Gunsa Airport is the fourth highest airport in the world. It has a 4,500 meters long runway and a 3,900-square-meter terminal. The construction of Ngari Gunsa Airport began in May 2007 and the operation began in 2010. Its annual throughput capacity is expected to reach 120,000 passengers by 2020.
Significance of Constructing Ngari Gunsa Airport
With the construction of Ngari Gunsa Airport, Mt. Kailash and Lake Manasarovar are accessed by air. Ngari owns numerous featured natural scenery and cultural sites, but nothing is more influential than Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar. Mount Kailash is regarded as home to Demchok and resident of God Siva while Lake Manasarovar is one of the tree sacred lakes and honored as the Mother of Sacred Lake. Apart from the Buddhist status, Mt. Kailash and Lake Manasarovar also shows stunning scenery.
After Ngari Airport was finished, the economy and tourism of Ngari developed fast. Ngari is remote area lying about 4,500 meters above the sea level in northwest Tibet and about 1,600km west from Lhasa. It was really hard to develop the lives of local people because of the special environment and inconvenient transportation. However, a lot of resource has been brought into Ngari as the Ngari Gunsa Airport started operation.
