Western China Airfields
Can anyone share any information on Kashi and/or Hotan airfield?
I have flown through this area many times on the Himalayan route through PURPA but last night going westbound, was a little different with some of the usual larger airfields (Urumqi and Lanzhou) being closed for work in progress. It made me think that if we needed to divert into Kashi or Hotan in a emergency, then would there at least be a controller in the tower? The weather report for Kashi that we got via ACARS was a AUTO observation which you don't often see in China, which only added to my suspicion.
The Chinese AIP is rather vague with it stating that ATS services are provided during the hours of scheduled operations and also on request. Both airports have scheduled flights during the day time only, so it leaves me wondering if ATS services are on request outside this time?
Last edited by Mister Geezer; 16th Nov 2015 at 21:11.