Terminal 3 at Lhasa Gonggar Airport, the largest of its kind in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, was put into operation on Saturday.

Lhasa Gonggar Airport, at an elevation of 3,570 meters, is Tibet's largest aviation hub and one of the highest airports in the world. Construction began on the new terminal in late 2017 as a key project for the region during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) period.

After three years construction and months of intensive preparatory tests and trials of various airport systems, the airport's new Terminal 3 will start scheduled flight operations on August 7, the Tibet bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced earlier this week.

Tibet Airlines' flight TV 9815, Xiamen Airlines and Chengdu Airlines will begin operations at the new terminal in the first batch of flights on August 7, according to Civil Aviation Resource Net of China.

10 airlines now serving the airport, including Air China and West Air, are scheduled to transfer all of their flight operations to the new terminal from August 9.

88,000 square meters, 20 boarding gates

Spanning a total area of about 88,000 square meters, Terminal 3 is a two-and-a-half-storey building, with the upper floor for departures, the middle for arrivals, and the ground complete with a reception area, baggage claim and sorting halls and a long-distance flight waiting hall.

The new terminal has a parking apron with 21 aircraft stands, 40 check-in counters, 22 security channels, and 20 boarding gates. Most of the jet bridges are dual-channel bridges to split departing and arriving passengers and greatly improve the efficiency of the flow management.

The overall design features diverse Tibetan cultural elements and its roof is painted in Tibetan gold and styled to the shape of a lotus.

Additionally, it adopts giant skylights and glass curtain walls, allowing passengers to enjoy the blue sky, white clouds, abundant sunshine and stunning scenery gifted by the plateau region.

Nine million passenger trips, 80,000 metric tons of cargo

The Gonggar Airport, which serves the regional capital of Lhasa, has flight connections with 62 cities via 114 routes to date, with more than 4.5 million passenger trips in 2019.

With the new terminal, the highland airport is expected to see an annual throughput of nine million passenger trips and 80,000 metric tons of cargo by 2025, according to CAAC.

Xie Wenming, chief engineer of the construction project management center at CAAC's Tibet bureau, noted that in addition to the 88,000-square-meter terminal and 21-stand parking apron, the project also included the supporting construction of air traffic control, communication and airfreight facilities, which at a total cost of more than 3.9 billion yuan ($603 million).

China has been increasing its infrastructure investment to improve the air and land transport in Tibet, which will bring great significance to local socio-ecological development.

In addition to the new terminal, the region also observed the recent opening of the Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway, which recorded more than 106,000 passenger trips in its first month of operation.

Tibet, opening the first flight route in 1965, boasts a safe flight record lasting 56 years. According to CAAC, the plateau region has launched a total of 130 air routes with 62 cities linked by flights so far, and registered a total of 5.15 million passenger trips in 2020 through the airports across the region.

(Video edited by Hong Yaobin)