The number of passengers served by Shangri-La Airport in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture exceeded 600,000 on the afternoon of December 13.

Lin Xianglian, the passenger who flew from Lhasa to Diqing on Flight MU5940, became the 600,000th passenger of Shangri-La Airport and was thus granted a free air ticket.

Construction of Shangri-la Airport started on January 4, 1998, and the airport was put into use on April 30, 1999. It has been in safe operation for 20 years.

With creative designs and unique regional customs, the airport is the second biggest among the 17 airports in the  Tibetan areas in China.

So far, the airport has opened direct air routes from Shangri-La to Kunming, Chengdu, Lhasa, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chongqing, Beijing and more.

In 2020, Shangri-La Airport will begin international air services in a bid to bring more overseas visitors to the Tibetan prefecture.

Reporting by Li Xiaocui; trans-editing by Wang Shixue