Airport Brief Facts
Qamdo Bangda Airport (IATA: BPX, ICAO: ZUBD) is the second highest airport in the world with elevation of 4,334m (14,219ft). Situated in east Tibet area, the Qamdo Bangda Airport is known for the farthest distance to downtown with the world’s worst climate and the longest runway. Currently, the Qamdo Airport has flights to Lhasa, Chengdu, Chongqing, Tianjin and Anhui Fuyang (安徽阜阳). It offers a convenient way to visit famous spots, like Ranwu Lake and Karuo Relics in Qamdo.
IATA Code: BPX
ICAO Code: ZUBD
Chinese Name: 昌都邦达机场
Address: Bangda Prairie, Qamdo Prefecture, Tibet, about 136km to the nearest Qamdo Town, over 1,300km to Lhasa and Chengdu
Major Connected Cities: Chengdu, Chongqing, Lhasa, Tianjin and Anhui Fuyang (安徽阜阳）
About Qamdo Bangda Airport
Geographical Information
Qamdo Bangda Airport, also called Qamdo Bamda Airport, is a plateau airport located in Bangda Prairie, Hengduan Mountains. The airport is 4,334m (14,219 ft) above sea level, which makes it the second highest airport in the world after the 4,411m high Daocheng Yading Airport in Sichuan Province. Climate environment of the Qamdo Bangda Airport is quite hostile. Wind speeds up to 30m per second in winter. Besides, the temperature often drops down to 20 degrees centigrade below zero in winter and spring, which is difficult for flight operation. Due to its high elevation, the airport oxygen level is only 50% of that of sea level.
Airport Facilities
The Qamdo Bangda Airport started its construction on December 2, 1992. The Air Force only spent 83 days on fixing the 5,500m long and 45 m wide airport runway – the longest one in the world. In 2007, the airport did a reconstruction and expansion with repairing the runway, building a new terminal of 5,018 square meters. During June 22 to July 15, 2013, the airport was shut down for a further maintenance of the old runway. A second runway is under construction from 2015.
Domestic Flights to Qamdo
Until now, Qamdo Bangda Airport only has opened 5 flights routes to several cities in China. Because Qamdo has less frequent schedules, air tickets to Qamdo or off Qamdo is difficult to get during peak tourist time. Popular top cities like Chengdu, Chongqing, Lhasa usually have 1 daily direct flight to Qamdo, irregular flight departing from Tianjin and Anhui Fuyang (安徽阜阳) are offered sometimes. Among all of these, Chengdu and Chongqing are the most popular hubs to Qamdo Tibet within 2h and have more frequent domestic and international routes for your consideration. The ticket price of going to Qamdo is much higher than to other airports in Tibet with barely discount all the time, due to few flights schedules, tough flying conditions and huge costs on the relevant facilities.
Lhasa Qamdo Flights
Lhasa is located in the center of Tibet, about 1,100km to the northeast Qamdo area. Dirving to Qamdo from Lhasa costs nearly 3 days in both 2 routes. One is going north through the National Highwat G317 and G109, passing Nagqu along the way. The south line is walking through National Highway G214 and G318 with more beautiful scenery in Nyingchi to enjoy.
A direct flight between Qamdo and Lhasa is operating every day. Tourist can tour the Qamdo area from Lhasa within 1.5h flying. It’s more time saving and convenient than driving. Still if you are planning a Lhasa travel from Qamdo, you can go to holy city Lhasa by plane. Since Lhasa Gonggar Airport is the largest and important airport in Tibet, it links Lhasa with many domestic inland cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xian, Chengdu, and the attractive international destination, Kathmandu in Nepal. You have more choice to spread your China tour or Nepal travel.
Chengdu Qamdo Flights
As the most important gateway to Tibet, Chengdu operates more than 30 flights between Chengdu and Lhasa, Nyingchi, Shigatse and Qamdo. Usually, Chengdu opens more frequent routes to Tibet than cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Xian, and it has many routes to international cities, like London, Paris, L.A, Seoul and popular Asia destinations. The Air China provides a round trip flight between Chengdu and Qamdo every day. The direct flight takes less than 1.5h at flying distance of 769km. Both of the 2 flights depart and arrive in the morning.
Chongqing Qamdo Flights
The national hub airport in Chongqing – Jiangbei International Airport, operates 258 flights routes to domestic and international destinations. You can transfer in Chongqing to other cities or fly back to home country. Except Chengdu, the gateway city Chongqing also has lots of flights to Tibet. The Tibet Airlines offers 1 non-stop flight flying from Chongqing to Qamdo and the other way around per day.
