By Wang Xuesong and Sun Xingwei
NGARI, Oct. 10 -- A visitation team composed of representatives from the PLA Joint Logistics Support Center in Xining, capital city of northwest China’s Qinghai Province, and civil airlines came to the frontier defense units stationed in the Ngari Plateau in early October and presented 300 free air tickets to border guards.
The Ngari Prefecture is known as the spine of the Himalayas. Before the Ngari Airport was completed in July 2010, horses and automobiles had been the main traffic tools in the plateau. In April 2012, the military and the civil airlines cooperated to set up the "Xi'an-Kashgar-Ngari" regular air route. In July 2015, with the promotion of related organs of the Central Military Commission, the "Urumqi-Kashgar-Ngari" flight was successfully opened. The two air routes have basically met the needs of mass transportation for the frontier defense troops stationed in the Ngari Plateau.
In the past five years since the "Urumqi-Kashgar-Ngari" air line was set up, 10,000 troops and more than 200 tons of military supplies have been transported through the air corridor. Priority service is provided to the military personnel when they buy tickets and board the plane, and additional temporary flights can be arranged at any time based on the needs of the troops.
Next, the military and civil airlines will deepen their cooperation in extending the existing air routes and opening new air lines to provide more preferential transportation support for border service members stationed in plateau areas.