An aircraft is inspected at Gonggar Airport, Lhasa. Tibet Airlines, which will make its maiden flight next August, is based at the airport. [Xinhua]Tibet Airlines is planning to launch routes to Europe within five years and expand its fleet to 50 by 2020.
Liu Yanping, general manager of the State-owned airline, told China Daily that the carrier plans to build Lhasa Gonggar Airport, where it is based, "into an aviation center that not only links various parts of the autonomous region but also Tibet and other areas".
He said that the carrier plans to make Lhasa, capital of the Tibet autonomous region, western China's "air hub".
The carrier is a 280-million-yuan ($41 million) joint venture between Tibet Autonomous Region Investment Co Ltd, holding a 51 percent stake, and Tibet Sanli Investment and Tibet Ruiyi Investment, owning 39 and 10 percent stakes.
It will make its maiden flight next August, when three Airbus A319s ordered this month arrive. "We plan to have 20 aircraft by 2015," Liu said.
As the first Tibet-based carrier, the airline plans to have routes serving the autonomous region and key cities across the nation by 2012.
Flights to South Asia and Southeast Asia are expected by 2013.
