[4] Building an airport in Tibet, which is termed in flying parlance as going over a "hump" in the Tibetan Plateau, has gone through a process of trial and error through many hazardous air routes and several fatal accidents during World War II.

The first airport began construction in 1955 and was completed in May 1956, across river from Gongtang township in the southwest of Damxung County at a height of 4,200 metres (13,800 ft).

Over the years, with more expansion of the facilities, Gonggar became the domestic hub in the Tibetan Plateau connecting many other airports in Tibet.

It occupies a floor area of 88,000 m2 and has 21 extra gates for boarding and deplaning, enabling the airport to serve 9 million passengers per year by 2025.

The airport lies to the west of Rawa-me, which is the capital of the county, at the entry of the Namrab Valley, 87 kilometres (54 mi) from Tsetang.

[3] The airport is connected to the rest of China, which includes cities such as Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Chongqing, Xi'an, Xining, Kunming, Diqing and Chamdo Region.

During tourist season (roughly April to October), there can be as many as 40 domestic flights every week to and from Gonggar, carrying on average as many as 700,000 passengers every year.

It is typically not possible to purchase air tickets directly from these carriers given the requirement of obtaining the necessary governmental travel permit, which is not the same as the visa to gain entry into the rest of mainland China.

This facility was made operational initially once a week on Wednesdays from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport in Sichuan Province.

[19] A new highway between Lhasa and the Gonggar Airport has been built by the Transportation Department of Tibet at a cost of RMB 1.5 billion yuan.