China's westernmost airport opens, lending Pamir residents wings

URUMQI -- On Friday morning, a passenger aircraft dipped over the snow-capped Kunlun Mountains and landed smoothly at the Taxkorgan airport at 10:59 am, marking the start of operations at China's westernmost transportation airport.

Sawudayi Jangbiq, a resident of Taxkorgan Tajik autonomous county, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, waited in his village of Pile, watching a livestream of the historic moment on his mobile phone.

"Having flights from the door of our house is something we never dreamed of before," he said, as the flight CZ5193, operated by China Southern Airlines, completed its around two-hour hop from the regional capital of Urumqi.

For Sawudayi and others like him, the opening of Xinjiang's first high plateau airport, located at 3,258 meters above sea level, is a milestone in transport links.