Qamdo Bangda Airport — Bangda, China

Qamdo Bangda Airport, coded BPX, sits at 14,219 feet above sea level in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, making it one of the highest-elevation airports anywhere in the world. Serving the town of Bangda near Qamdo, the field's one runway stretches to an unusually long length, a design necessity at this altitude, where thin air reduces lift and forces aircraft to use far more distance during takeoff and landing than they would nearer sea level. The extreme elevation and remote, mountainous surroundings make BPX a demanding airport to operate, with weather and oxygen levels both factors that airlines must account for. Flights connecting BPX to Chengdu and Lhasa serve the sparsely populated eastern Tibetan plateau.