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]
Rikaze Peace Airport 日喀则和平机场 གཞིས་ཀ་རྩེ་ཞི་བདེ་གནམ་གྲུ་ཐང། | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Terminal Building | |||||||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Military/Public | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Shigatse, Tibet A.R. | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Jangdam, Samzhubzê District, Shigatse | ||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1973 (military) 30 October 2010 (public) | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 3,782 m / 12,408 ft | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 29°21′06″N 89°18′25″E / 29.35167°N 89.30694°E | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  RKZ Location of airport in Tibet | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Statistics (2021) | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
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 | ||||||
| |||||||
| Tibetan name | |||||||
| Tibetan | གཞིས་ཀ་རྩེ་ཞི་བདེ་གནམ་གྲུ་ཐང། | ||||||
| |||||||
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.[3]
Facilities edit
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).[4] 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.[3][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.[5]
Gallery edit
-
Inside the terminal -
Airport taxiways -
Airport taxiways -
Airport terminal (a view from tarmac) -
Satellite view of the airport (2017)
Airlines and destinations edit
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| China Eastern Airlines | Xi'an |
| Tibet Airlines | Chengdu–Shuangliu, Xi'an |
| West Air | Chongqing[6] |
Map and location markers edit
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b Airport information for Shigatse Airport at Great Circle Mapper.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ Loh, Chris; Ahlgren, Linnea (2020-07-27). "What Are The Longest Runways In The World?". Simple Flying. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ Team, Bellingcat Investigation (2017-11-28). "China's Shigatse Gets New Infrastructure". bellingcat. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ "China West Air flight PN6450". Flightradar24.
