China opens Tibet’s biggest airport terminal, as analysts eye South Asian skies

The new Terminal 3 at Lhasa Gonggar airport will enable it to handle around 9 million passengers and 80,000 tonnes of cargo annually by 2025

Local tourism and economic connections are expected to benefit

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The construction of Lhasa Gonggar Airport’s Terminal 3, the biggest on the Tibetan Plateau, was a key project under China’s 13th Five-Year Plan (2016 -2020). Photo: Weibo

Published: 8:12pm, 9 Aug 2021Updated: 10:53pm, 9 Aug 2021

The biggest terminal on the Tibetan Plateau – at the region’s only international airport – went into operation over the weekend, boosting hopes of improved economic connections with South Asia and the domestic market.

The new Terminal 3 at Lhasa Gonggar Airport completes the expansion and reconstruction of the region’s largest aviation hub, a key project for China’s 2016-2020 five-year plan, the country’s social and economic development blueprint.

Built at an elevation of 3,570 metres (11,712 feet), Lhasa Gonggar is one of the highest airports in the world and the only one in Tibet running international flights. Work started on US$603 million Terminal 3 project in late 2017, and it is expected to enable the facility to handle around 9 million passengers and 80,000 tonnes of cargo annually by 2025.

“It can help the region to form economic connections to South Asia. For instance, it will be more convenient for South Asian tourists to visit Tibet,” said Liu Zongyi, secretary general of the Centre for China and South Asia Cooperation at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.

“The transport of emergency aid for South Asian countries will also become easier if they are in need [of the same].”

Liu said that the greatest strategic significance of the project was promoting the economic development of Tibet.