China has world's 36 per cent high plateau airports

BEIJING: China possesses 15 high plateau airports, comprising about 36 per cent of the total in the world, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The high plateau airports handled 5.8 million passengers, up 18.7 per cent year on year, and 59,000 flights, up 19.1 per cent year on year last year.

Different from common flights, high plateau flights face more safety challenges, thus, standards should be established at the legislative level, said Li Jian, deputy head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China ( CAAC) yesterday.

High plateau airports are no less than 2,438 meters above sea level. Plateau airports refer to those at an altitude no less than 1,500 meters, but less than 2,438 meters above sea level, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted CAAC as saying.

China has built five airports in and around Tibet.