New airport opens in NW China

XINING -- A new airport opened in northwest China's Qinghai Province Friday.

Maqen Airport in Maqen County, Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, is located at an altitude of 3,787 meters. It is the underdeveloped province's sixth civil airport.

Costing 1.2 billion yuan ($180.2 million), the airport is expected to transport 80,000 passengers and 200 tonnes of goods annually by 2020.

Golog is 440 km away from the provincial capital Xi'ning. Of the 200,000 people who live in the prefecture, over 90 percent are Tibetans.

Wu Yuzhang, Communist Party of China (CPC) prefectural committee secretary, said flights from Xi'ning to Golog will take 45 minutes. This will increase the exchange of personnel and commodities between the two places, and promote tourism and economic development of Golog.