Daocheng Yading Airport facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Daocheng Yading Airport
IATA: DCY – ICAO: ZUDC
Summary
Airport type		Public
Serves		Daocheng, Sichuan, China
Location		Sangdui Township
Elevation AMSL		4,411 m / 14,472 ft
Coordinates		29°19′23″N 100°03′12″E
Map
Location of airport
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
16/34	4,200	13,780	Concrete
Sources:

Daocheng Yading Airport
Traditional Chinese	稻城亞丁機場
Simplified Chinese	稻城亚丁机场
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Dàochéng Yàdīng Jīchǎng

Daocheng Yading Airport (IATA: DCY, ICAO: ZUDC) is an airport serving Daocheng County. Daocheng County is a county that is in Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The prefecture is in the province of Sichuan, China. The airport is located in Sangdui Town. Sandui town is 50 kilometers north of the county seat. Yading Nature Reserve is 130 kilometers away from the airport. Daocheng Yading is 4,411 m (14,472 ft) above sea level. This makes it the highest civilian airport in the world.

Construction started after plans for the airport was approved in April 2011. The total cost of construction is 1.58 billion yuan (US$255 million). The airport officially opened on 16 September 2013. The first flight was Air China flight 4215 on an Airbus A319. The flight came from Chengdu. It carried 118 passengers. The opening of the airport reduces the time needed to travel from Daocheng and Chengdu to one hour. This journey used to take two days by bus.

Facilities

Daocheng Yading Airport has one runway that is 4,200 m (13,800 ft) long and 45 m (148 ft) wide. It has a 5,000 m² (54,000 sq ft) terminal building. The airport terminal is shaped like a flying saucer. There are two aerobridges. It is designed to handle 280,000 passengers per year.

Pilots landing and taking off a plane from the airport need to be a captain. They also need to have a license that allows them to land on a high elevation airport. They cannot be more than 55 years old. They also need have 1200 hours in flying experience. Out of this 1200, 100 must be on the type of aircraft they are currently flying.

Airlines and destinations

Daocheng Yading is served by airlines such as Air China, China Southern Airlines as well as Sichuan Airlines. There are several destinations these airlines fly to. Air China operates flights to Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (Chengdu) and Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (Guangzhou). China Southen operates flights to Chengdu and Guangzhou. Sichuan Airlines operates flights to Chengdu, Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport and Xi'an Xianyang International Airport.

The table below gives a summary of the destinations and airlines:

Airlines	Destinations 
Air China	Chengdu
China Southern Airlines	Chengdu, Guangzhou
Sichuan Airlines	Chengdu, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Xi'an

Records
Preceded by Qamdo Bamda Airport	World's highest airport 4,411 m (14,472 ft) 2013–present	Succeeded by Incumbent