Shigatse Peace Airport

Rikaze Peace Airport

日喀则和平机场
གཞིས་ཀ་རྩེ་ཞི་བདེ་གནམ་གྲུ་ཐང།
Terminal building
Summary
Airport typeMilitary/public
ServesShigatse, Tibet A.R.
LocationJangdam, Samzhubzê District, Shigatse
Opened1973 (military)
30 October 2010 (public)
Elevation AMSL3,782 m / 12,408 ft
Coordinates29°21′06″N 89°18′25″E / 29.35167°N 89.30694°E / 29.35167; 89.30694
Map
RKZ is located in Tibet
RKZ
RKZ
Location of airport in Tibet
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
09/27 5,000 16,404 Concrete
07/25 3,000 9,843 Concrete
Statistics (2021)
Passengers144,870
Aircraft movements1,804
Cargo (metric tons)528.9
Source:[1]
Shigatse Peace Airport
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese日喀则和平机场
Traditional Chinese日喀則和平機場
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinRìkāzé Hépíng Jīchǎng
Tibetan name
Tibetanགཞིས་ཀ་རྩེ་ཞི་བདེ་གནམ་གྲུ་ཐང།
Transcriptions
Wyliegzhis ka rtse zhi bde gnam gru thang

Rikaze (Shigatse) Peace Airport (IATA: RKZ, ICAO: ZURK), Shigatse Heping Airport, or Shigatse Air Base, is a dual-use military and civilian airport serving Shigatse, the second largest city in Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is located in Jangdam Township,[2] 43 kilometres (27 mi) from Shigatse. Situated at an elevation of 3,782 metres (12,408 ft), it is one of the highest airports in the world.[2]

Construction of Shigatse Airport started in 1968 and was completed in 1973. It was solely for military use until 2010, when a 532 million yuan expansion was completed. On 30 October 2010, the airport was opened as the fifth civilian airport in Tibet.[2]

Facilities

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The airport has a 5,000-metre (16,000 ft) runway with a 60-metre (200 ft) asphalt overrun at each end. It is the longest public runway in the world (tied with Ulyanovsk Vostochny Airport).[citation needed] It also features a 4,500-square-metre (48,000 sq ft) terminal building. It is projected to handle 230,000 passengers and 1,150 tonnes (1,130 long tons; 1,270 short tons) of cargo annually by 2020.[2][1]

Around 2017, a new runway of approximately 3,000 metres (9,840 ft) was constructed. Guizhou WZ-7 Soaring Dragon UAVs were seen hosted by this runway. The runway is located at the west end of its primary runway.[3]

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Airlines and destinations

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AirlinesDestinations
China Eastern Airlines Xi'an
Tibet Airlines Chengdu–Shuangliu
West Air Chongqing[4]

Map and location markers

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Key:
1
Runway 1 (16,404ft)
2
Runway 2 (9,843ft)
3
Main terminal
4
Air traffic control tower

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Airport information for Shigatse Airport at Great Circle Mapper.
  2. ^ a b c d 西藏第五个民用机场日喀则机场正式通航 (in Chinese (China)). Xinhua. 2010-10-30. Archived from the original on November 2, 2010.
  3. ^ Team, Bellingcat Investigation (2017-11-28). "China's Shigatse Gets New Infrastructure". bellingcat. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
  4. ^ "China West Air flight PN6450". Flightradar24.