World's highest airport where passengers have to use oxygen masks stands 14,000 ft tall
The air is so thin that travelers rely on oxygen masks to breathe
The world’s highest airport stands over a colossal 14,000 ft tall and passengers rely on oxygen masks to breathe.
The unusual airport is located on a slope in China’s Sichuan province and first opened back in 2013.
Named Daocheng Yading Airport, it stands at 14,472 ft above sea level, making it the highest airport in the world.
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It has just one runway and people traveling through the airport need to use oxygen masks to help them breathe at altitude.
One TikToker documented his experience of visiting the airport, posting a video of himself using an oxygen mask outside of the terminal.
The man shared his journey to the airport on his TikTok page, @aligoodguy, where many viewers were shocked to see him needing oxygen aid.
The clip went viral on social media, being seen by 136,000 people.
Taking off and landing planes at high altitudes can be trickier for pilots as the thin air can make for some very unpredictable weather patterns.
To combat this, airplanes need to take off and land at slower speeds.
And it’s not all bad - locals welcomed the opening of the airport because it meant that journeys from the area to the region’s capital of Chengdu was cut down from a two day bus journey to just a one hour flight.
The only other alternative previously was an 11 hour car ride, meaning that the high airport was life changing for local residents.
Despite the airport’s challenges, it isn’t considered to be the most dangerous flight path in the world.
While people are in dispute as to which location takes that title, one of the top contenders is the Tibetan Plateau, which airlines avoid flying over.
It is due to its mountainous area.
The average elevation in the region is around 14,800 ft and while that's substantially lower than the 31,000 ft to 42,000 ft commercial airlines typically fly at, it can still cause problems.
In an emergency situation, a plane will need to drop down to 10,000 ft within a certain amount of time so that safe oxygen levels can be reached.
With this in mind, should a flight happen to need to drop down this level while traveling over the Tibetan Plateau it would be impossible as the plane would likely crash into one of the region's massive mountains.
The most dangerous section of the area covers 970,000 square miles, which is five times the size of France.