Civil aviation industry held a working conference in Lhasa to assist the construction and development of airports in Tibet on June 8, marking the formal initiation of “3+1” assistance project for Tibetan airport construction so as to promote civil airports construction and civil aviation development in Tibet. CAAC Administrator Feng Zhenglin and Party Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region Wu Yingjie attended the conference and delivered speeches. Qi Zhala, Governor of the Tibet Autonomous Region, also made an address. CAAC Deputy Administrator Dong Zhiyi presided over the conference. Ding Yexian, Deputy Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Zhuang Yan, Vice Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and officials from relevant state ministries and commissions, government departments and agencies of the Tibet Autonomous Region, relevant CAAC departments and bureaus, enterprises and institutions directly under CAAC, airports and support entities were also present.

In order to further accelerate the development of civil aviation in Tibet and shore up the points of weakness in civil aviation infrastructure there, CAAC, in this March, proposed the “3+1” assistance project which will be coordinated by CAAC, commissioned to CAAC Tibet Autonomous Region Administration. Measures featuring “political mobilization, commissioned construction, and integrated construction and operation” will be taken so as to improve the quality and efficiency and promote the development of Tibetan airports. In accordance with arrangements for other provinces and municipalities offering targeted assistance to Tibet, Capital Airport Holding Company offers assistance to Shannan Longzi Airport, Shanghai Airport Authority to Shigatse Dingri Airport, China West Airport Group to Ngari Pulan Airport, and CAAC Southwest Regional Administration to the second runway project at Lhasa Gonggar Airport. At the conference, CAAC Tibet Autonomous Region Administration gave a brief introduction of the assistance projects, and signed the agreements on entrusted assistance for Tibetan airports with all entities that will offer assistance.

In his remarks, Administrator Feng Zhenglin stressed that great importance shall be attached to expediting civil airport construction in Tibet to serve the national economic and social development strategy and assist Tibet in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. He highlighted that pooling the resources from the entire industry to promote the development of civil airports in Tibet is not only a significant measure of CAAC to implement President Xi Jinping’s thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for the new era and the guiding principles of the 19th CPC National Congress, fully carry out the central government’s strategy for Tibet governance, and spare no effort to support the civil aviation development in Tibet, but also a practice to accelerate the building of a civil aviation power. He also indicated that it was necessary to think in big-picture terms, handle special cases with special methods and make innovations in the development.

Officials in charge of relevant national ministries and commissions expressed their recognition and support for the industry-wide efforts in assisting airport development in Tibet. Representatives from all entities offering assistance reported the progress of their work, and stated that they will speed up the tasks and guarantee the successful completion of construction goals.

At present, there are five civil airports in Tibet Autonomous Region, including Lhasa Gonggar Airport, Changdu Bangda Airport, Linzhi Milin Airport, Ali Kunsha Airport, Shigatse Heping Airport, and 86 air routes in total. In 2017, the total civil aviation passenger traffic in Tibet reached 621.362 million person-km with a year-on-year growth of 50.2%. The three newly-built feeder airports are all located 4 000 meters above the sea level with typical characteristics as high plateau airports. Currently, site selection for the three feeder airports has been finished and the planning scheme for the second runway construction project at Lhasa Gonggar Airport has been reviewed and approved. The four projects are expected to be initiated in 2019 and accomplished and put into operation in 2021.