SHENZHEN Airlines will open the first flight from Shenzhen to Tibet this year, after a successful trial flight to Lhasa on Friday (August 4).

The trial flight landed at the 3,570-meter-high Lhasa Airport on Friday morning, three hours and 20 minutes after it took off from Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport.

Zhao Pei, vice general manager of Shenzhen Airlines, said the airline was still awaiting final approval from the General Administration of Civil Aviation for the opening of the Shenzhen-Tibet route. He said he hoped the route would be open by September.

"t will be a very beautiful route, with sceneries changing dramatically from China's east to west," said Zhao.

Yu Xiaohui, vice general manager of the commercial department of Shenzhen Airlines, said the cost of a ticket for the flight, which includes a stopover in Chongqing, would be lower than any current indirect flight to Tibet.

Shenzheners presently have to go to Hong Kong and Guangzhou to board a flight to Lhasa. Or they have to fly to Kunming in Yunnan Province and then change flights.

China launched the first flight to Lhasa in 1956, and so far no plane to the plateau city has suffered any accident, although Lhasa is surrounded by mountains and sees frequent changes in weather.

Currently there are 12 air routes to Lhasa Airport, from Kathmandu, Chongqing, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Xining, Chengdu, Hong Kong, Kunming and Diqing.

Captains on the flights to Tibet have to receive special training twice a year to deal with plateau situations. The aircraft to Tibet, meanwhile, has to be adapted to be able to supply oxygen for 55 minutes, five times that of an ordinary Airbus A319.

Editor: Wing