URUMQI, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese aviation authorities are considering a shortlist of three locations for a new high-altitude airport in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Experts sent to Xinjiang by the Civil Aviation Engineering Consulting Company of China earlier this month reviewed a report on the three sites, all more than 3,200 meters above sea level in Tajik Autonomous County of Taxkorgan, said a spokesman with the Xinjiang Airport Group.

The new facility will be Xinjiang's first "high plateau airport", a term used in Chinese aviation to refer to airports located more than 2,438 meters above sea level. Situated in the east of the Pamirs Plateau, Tajik has an average altitude of about 4,000 meters.

China has 15 high plateau airports, about 36 percent of the world's total, according to the country's Civil Aviation Administration.