The construction of the Garze Gesar (or "Gesaer") Airport in Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of southwest China's Sichuan Province was completed on Wednesday morning, with all necessities ready for flight service. 

This is the third airport built in the prefecture, where construction began in April 2016. The new airport is expected to go into operation in mid-September.

The civil airport is located at an altitude of 4,068 meters above the sea level and is 52 kilometers away from Garze County and 152 kilometers away from Dege County.  

The airport was designed to have an annual capacity of 220,000 passengers by 2025 and an annual goods transport capacity of 660 tons.  

After the new airport starts operations, the first batch of flights will terminate at Chengdu City in the province and the neighboring Chongqing Municipality. The passengers from the nine counties of northern Garze will need to spend merely an hour traveling to Chengdu and Chongqing by plane, nearly 10 hours less than the time they previously used in highway transportation.

Besides, the airport is expected to be part of an air transportation network, together with Kangding Airport and Daocheng Yading Airport, to promote local economic development and tourism, push forward poverty alleviation, and maintain solidarity among the different ethnic groups in the region.