No plans for super-high plateau airports in China

BEIJING - China will not approve construction of more super-high plateau airports for at least two years, said Li Jian, deputy head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Thursday.

High and super-high plateau airports face different safety challenges from their low altitude counterparts. There are no international technology standards for high plateau airports and it will take China two or three years to work out a set of standards. Before this, no plans will be approved, Li said.

China now has 15 of the 42 high plateau airports in the world. In 2014, those airports handled 5.8 million passengers and 59,000 flights, roughly a fifth more than in 2013.

Daocheng Yading Airport, in southwest China's Sichuan province at 4,411 meters above the sea level, is now the highest airport in the world. It will soon be surpassed by another airport, Nagqu Dagring Airport in southwest China's Tibet autonomous region. It is under construction and will be the highest at 4,436 meters when it goes into operation later this year.

High plateau airports are those no less than 2,438 meters (7,000 feet) above sea level.