China News Network, Chengdu, March 1st (Yishizhong Wang Peng) A reporter learned from Air China's Southwest Branch on March 1st that with an Airbus A319 aircraft carrying 112 passengers, it landed smoothly in Lhasa at an altitude of 3570 meters in the morning. Gongga Airport marks the 55th year of safe flight between Chengdu and Lhasa, the air golden bridge on the Tibetan Plateau.
The Tibetan Plateau has an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters, snow-capped mountains, glaciers, and wind, sand, hail, high-altitude strong winds, and turbulent currents. It is recognized as the most difficult airspace in the world to fly. On March 1, 1965, after careful preparation, Sun Quangui and Bi Chunfang, the senior captains of the First Flight Brigade of Air China, opened the Beijing-Chengdu-Lhasa route on the Il-18 aircraft, which attracted the attention of the international civil aviation community.
The captain of Air China Southwest Branch conducted emergency handling training on plateau routes on a simulator. (Data map) Photo courtesy of Air China Southwest Branch
It is understood that for more than half a century, Air China has continued to invest in advanced models on the Lhasa route and implemented a number of adaptive modifications to the cabin oxygen supply system, cockpit supercharging system, and engine power system, including the establishment of 21 Airbus A319 and China's largest civil aviation plateau fleet, including seven Airbus A330 aircraft.
Among them, Air China Southwest Branch with Chengdu as the operating base is equipped with two captains to perform each high altitude flight. It is the first in Asia to use RNP precision navigation technology to improve the operation of high altitude routes. It has successfully tested flights to Qamdo Bangda Airport, Nyingchi Milin Airport, More than 10 international and domestic routes from Kathmandu, Beijing, Chongqing to Lhasa, and Chengdu to Bangda, Nyingchi, and Xigaze to and from the "Roof of the World" have been opened successively. The annual passenger traffic on the Chengdu-Lhasa route of the Air China also increased from 4,400 in the initial period to 410,000.
It is reported that over the past 55 years, Air China has safely taken off and landed 101,700 flights on this plateau route, transported 13.17 million passengers at home and abroad, and transported 288,000 tons of cargo and mail. (Finish)