Nyingchi Mainling Airport guide

Nyingchi Mainling Airport sits in the Yarlung Tsangpo valley in Mainling County, Tibet, at an elevation of 2,949 metres. Mountains above 4,000 metres surround the field, and the approach corridor narrows to under 4 kilometres wide. The airport is also used by the military. Its approach is regarded as one of the most demanding instrument approaches in the world, and weather suits operations on only about 100 days a year.

The airport opened to traffic on 1 September 2006 and was built at a cost of 780 million yuan. A single 3,000-metre concrete runway, 05/23, serves it. A parallel taxiway and a six-position Category C apron were finished in 2021.

The current terminal opened on 6 March 2017 and replaced the original building, which became a VIP waiting room in 2018. It has 11 check-in counters, four security checkpoints and four jet bridges. Flights link Nyingchi with Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi'an, Beijing, Guangzhou and other cities in mainland China. Traffic grew from 53,000 passengers in 2007 to 967,829 in 2025.