Daocheng Yading Airport claims world record for highest altitude
A REMOTE Tibetan region in southwest China is now home to the world's highest altitude airport. It lies about 4.4km above sea level.
AT 4411m above sea level, a new airport in a mountainous Tibetan village sits about halfway to the cruising altitude of most commercial planes.
The Daocheng Yading Airport was opened in China on Monday, becoming the highest-altitude civilian airport in the world.
The airport is in Garzi, a restive and remote Tibetan region of south-western Sichuan province.
It will cut journey times from the provincial capital of Chengdu from a two-day drive to a little more than an hour in the air.
The 1.58 billion yuan ($258 million) airport, designed to handle 280,000 passengers a year, will help open up the nearby Yading Nature Reserve to tourism, the official Xinhua news agency said, referring to an area renowned for its untouched natural beauty.
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