Xinyuan Nalati Airport — Xinyuan, China

NLT identifies Xinyuan Nalati Airport, serving Xinyuan County in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang, China. The airport takes its name from the nearby Nalati Grassland, one of China's most scenic alpine meadow regions and a major domestic tourist attraction known for horseback riding and dramatic mountain scenery. NLT was developed largely to support growing tourism demand to this remote part of northwestern China, offering flights connecting to Urumqi and other regional cities. The surrounding Ili Valley is ethnically diverse, home to significant Kazakh and other minority populations, and NLT has helped open up an area historically difficult to reach due to its distance from major Chinese population centers.