According to the statistics from Tibet Autonomous Region Civil Aviation, Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China saw a record 3.63 million air passengers in 2015, up 15.2 percent from the previous year.

In 2015, Tibet Civil Aviation opened 13 new air routes last year including Lhasa-Lanzhou- Shijiazhang as well as Qamdo-Chongqing-Tianjin etc, bringing its operating routes to 63. The number of cities linked to Tibet via air rose to reach 40. The number of flights in Tibet achieves 36,000 and total cargo throughput reaches 29,000 tons, up 16.8 percent and 16.3 percent year-on-year, respectively.

In recent years, Tibet's civil aviation industry has been growing rapidly with a total investment of more than 3 billion yuan (457 million U.S. dollars), becoming an important driver for the regional economy.

During the 13th Five-Year period, Tibet will develop air express routes between Lhasa and Chengdu, and will open more air routes to other domestic cities, especially counterpart assistant cities and provinces to Tibet, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, delta region of Yangtze River and Pearl River Delta Area.

Tibet will also encourage airline companies to open routes between Lhasa and Southeast and South Asian countries, said the official.