A remote town on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau came closer to the rest of China on Saturday with the opening of a new airport.

The airport will cut the journey time between the Qinghai provincial capital, Xining, and Gyegu Township, 814 km away, from 15 hours to just 70 minutes.

The second civil airport in the province, it is 3,900 meters above sea level and 26 km outside Gyegu Township, the government seat of the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu in northwest Qinghai.

"It may also help boost tourism and shake off poverty for local residents," said Song Xiuyan, the provincial governor of Qinghai.

Yushu is famous for the Nature Reserve of Three-River Headwaters, the source of China's three major waterways: the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers.

Construction of the airport began in May 2007 and was completed in June this year at a cost of more than 500 million yuan (US$73 million). With a 4,000-square-meter terminal and 3,800-meter runway, it can handle aircraft as large as the Airbus A319.

Regular flights between Yushu and Xi'an will fly via Xining on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2009)