Hotan Airport / Hetian Airport

Hetian Airport ( IATA : HTN, ICAO : ZWTN), located at 925 Yingbin Road, Hetian City, Hetian District , Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China , 9 kilometers away from the center of Hetian, is a 4D military-civilian shared airport. In 1957, Hetian Airport was opened for navigation; in 1964, 2002 and 2014, Hotan Airport was rebuilt and expanded three times. Hetian City is near Kunlun in the south and the Taklimakan Desert in the north. It is a major town in southern Xinjiang on the ancient Silk Road and a political, economic, cultural, transportation and financial center in the Hotan area.

Uyghurs generally form villages in rural areas and are engaged in agricultural production. They are good at gardening, melons and fruits, forest trees, raising cows and sheep. Uyghurs in the urban area are mostly engaged in handicraft business. The handicraft industry is mainly based on tanning, iron making, food processing, etc.; the business mainly deals in fur casings, dry and fresh fruits and ethnic products. The Uyghurs are hospitable and uphold etiquette.

As of November 2016, the terminal area of Hotan Airport is 17493 square meters, with 4 covered bridges; 7 planes on the platform, including 3 Class D and 4 Class C; the runway is 3200 meters long. It is 45 meters wide; it can meet the needs of passenger throughput of 1.6 million passengers, cargo and mail throughput of 6,100 tons, and aircraft movements of 13,300 aircrafts in 2025. In 2019, Hotan Airport completed a total passenger throughput of 1.596218 million passengers, an increase of 31.1% year-on-year, ranking 83rd in the country; cargo and mail throughput was 5704.7 tons, an increase of 74.8% year-on-year, ranking 79th in the country; 14507 aircraft took off and landing, year-on-year An increase of 43.4%, ranking 113th nationwide.

During the Republic of China, Hotan built an airstrip. In May 1956, Hotan Airport started construction. In 1957, Hotan Airport was completed and delivered. In 1964, the Air Force carried out the first phase of reconstruction and expansion of Hotan Airport, and the runway was extended to 2800 meters.

In 2002, the reconstruction and expansion of the second phase of Hotan Airport began with a total investment of 176 million yuan, a flight zone rating of 4D, a runway lengthened to 3,200 meters, and a designed annual throughput of 81,900 passengers. In 2004, the second-phase reconstruction and expansion project of Hotan Airport was launched, and the new terminal (now the old terminal) covers an area of 2981.65 square meters. On April 20, 2013, the renovation and reconstruction of the runway instrument landing system of Hotan Airport passed the industry acceptance.

On March 25, 2014, the National Development and Reform Commission and the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army approved the project feasibility study report for the reconstruction and expansion project of Hetian Airport; on May 19, the Civil Aviation Xinjiang Administration approved the preliminary design and budget estimates of the reconstruction and expansion project of Hetian Airport. Invested 485 million yuan, built a new civil aviation taxiway, expanded the station acreage of 21,875 square meters, and built a new terminal building of 1,7493 square meters; on August 16, the third-phase reconstruction and expansion project of Hotan Airport officially began. From June 16 to July 31, 2015, Hetian Airport was suspended for construction. On November 16, 2016, the new terminal building of Hotan Airport was put into use.

The Hetian Airport Terminal was opened on November 16, 2016, with an area of 17493.4 square meters and 4 corridor bridges; the station area is 43475 square meters with 7 planes, of which 3 are Class D and 3 are Class C 4; can meet the demand for annual passenger throughput of 1.6 million people.

The runway number of Hotan Airport is 11-29, with a length of 3200 meters and a width of 45 meters. It has an instrument landing system and can take off and land Boeing B747 and smaller aircraft

According to Yan Guocan, Secretary of the Hetian District Local Party Committee, the reconstruction and expansion project of Hotan Airport was a major event in the political and economic life of Hotan. It was not only a livelihood project to improve the travel conditions of people of all ethnic groups, but also a national defense project to consolidate border defense and maintain stability. It had very important practical and historical significance for strengthening Hotan's air passage to the outside world, accelerating national defense construction, promoting the unity of the military, government, and civilians, opening wider to the outside world, creating a favorable investment environment, and promoting the common prosperity and development of the people of all border areas.

Hetian area is located at the southernmost tip of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Kunlun Mountains in southern Vietnam reached the northern plateau of Tibet, in the east it was adjacent to Bayingoleng Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, in the north it penetrated into the hinterland of Taklimakan, adjacent to the Aksu region, in the west of Kashgar region, and in the southwest of the Karakoram Mountains bordered by India and Pakistan, with a borderline of 210 Kilometers. It is about 670 kilometers long from east to west and 600 kilometers wide from north to south, with a total area of 247,800 square kilometers.

The majestic Kunlun Mountains in the southern Hetian area arc across the east and west, with overlapping peaks and steep mountains. The northern slope is a low-lying mountainous area with gorges all over, while the southern slope is slower. The peak of the mountain is generally about 6000 meters above sea level, and the highest is over 7000 meters. Due to the dry climate, the height of Shancai desert is generally 3300 meters, and the individual sections can reach 5000 meters. The snow lines on the north and south slopes are above 6000 meters and 5500 meters, respectively. Linqitang depression was formed at the geographical boundary between Kunlun and Karakorum, and modern salt lakes and saline-alkali swamps were developed to form alpine lakes.

Hotan City lies in Kunlun to the south and the Taklimakan Desert to the north. It is a major town on the southern Silk Road in the southern Xinjiang and a political, economic, cultural, transportation and financial center in the Hotan region. The city has a total area of 685 square kilometers and a built-up area of 31 square kilometers. It has jurisdiction over 5 townships and 3 towns, 4 street offices, 1 district management committee, 1 industrial park, 1 Jinghe logistics park and 1 agricultural industrial park. , A total of 151 administrative villages and 97 communities.

In 2016, the total number of households in Hotan City was 88,557, with a total population of 389,749 (female 194,007), including: rural population 175,465 and urban population 214,284. By ethnic composition, the Uyghur population is 351,900, accounting for 90.3% of the total population; the Han nationality is 36,500, accounting for 9.37% of the total population.

The Hetian area is located in the hinterland of the Eurasian continent. The Pamirs and the Tianshan barrier are in the west and north. The cold air in Siberia is not easy to enter; the Kunlun Mountains and Karakorum Mountains in the south, blocking the warm and humid airflow from the Indian Ocean, An extremely dry desert climate in the warm temperate zone has been formed. The main features are: distinct seasons, hot summers, cold but not cold winters, rapid and unstable spring heating, frequent cold springs, windy and sandy weather, and rapid cooling in autumn; sparse precipitation throughout the year, sufficient sunlight, abundant heat, and long frost-free periods, The temperature difference between day and night is large. The climatic characteristics are: sandstorms and dusty weather in spring, hot and dry in summer, with an average annual precipitation of 35 mm and an annual evaporation of 2 480 mm. The seasons are windy and sandy. The annual dust weather is more than 220 days. Among them, the dense floating dust (sand storm) weather is about 60 days. The average number of days of floating dust in Hotan increases by 2.5 days per year.

The Tarim Desert Highway starts from the east of Luantai County, National Highway 314, passes through Lunnan Oilfield, Tarim River, Xiaotang, Tazhong 4 Oilfield and Taklamakan Desert, connects to Chahan, Minfeng County, and National Highway 315, and runs through the Tarim Basin from north to south. 522 kilometers, of which 446 kilometers are long across the mobile desert.

The desert highway runs north and south through the Taklimakan Desert, known as the "Sea of Death". The pavement structure of the desert section is in order from top to bottom: asphalt, asphalt concrete, graded gravel natural gravel, geotextile, aeolian sand foundation. The sand control system with geogrid method with Chinese characteristics is economical and reliable, that is, the reeds of Xinjiang are used to make grass squares to fix the sand. 30-50 cm, and adjust appropriately according to the position of the tuyere. Outside the grass square, there is a reed sand barrier, buried 0.3 meters in the sand, the actual height is 1.2 meters. The Shaomu Highway has prepared passages for conventional vehicles for the exploration and development of oil and gas resources in the hinterland of the Tazhong Desert.

As one of the four major inventions of Chinese civilization, Sangpi papermaking has a history of more than 2,000 years. The papermaking technology is more than 100 years earlier than the papermaking technology invented by Cai Lun. This is a remarkable cultural achievement in Hotan itself. This in itself is a great contribution to the traditional culture of the motherland. Mulberry papermaking is a traditional Uyghur handicraft, using mulberry bark as the raw material. The entire process is manually operated and can be used for drawing, writing and decorations. The product can be used as a characteristic tourist souvenir collection. Only Hotan has mulberry paper crafts in Xinjiang.