Lhasa Gonggar Airport (LXA, ZULS)

A little bit of history...

🔗 Wed, 21 May 2025
— @Armaan at Lhasa Gonggar Airport, China Reply

The Lhasa Airport is the airport serving the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, one of the highest places on Earth. In case of an emergency cause by freezing temperatures, high turbulence, mountains on the roof of the world creating dangerous emergency landings, and a lack of airports, the Tibet-Qinghai plateau is very dangerous to fly over, and trust me, even World War Two Allied pilots suffered a stretch over the Himalayas called the Hump. This is why in 1965, Lhasa Gonggar International Airport was founded, but it was originally a no-fly zone due to safety concerns. The year is 1965, and this is when the runway was built, and then a terminal. Immediately, domestic Chinese airlines began service in the airport. Then, a few restaurants and lounges opened. A second runway was built in 1994 due to safety concerns. In 2004, Terminal 2 was built, and in 2011, an expressway was finished. A decade later, in 2021, a third terminal was constructed to improve infrastructure and meet demands. Now, it on average gets five million passengers a year, and flies to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Nepal, and Singapore, depending on the very few airlines stationed there. No airlines have hubs there but it is still an important landing spot during emergencies on the so-called roof of the world.