According to media reports the airport will be at an altitude of 4,436 meters (14,639 feet).
Construction of the airport, which is likely to cost $260 million (yuan 1.8 billion), will start in 2011.
The new airport to be built in the Nagqu prefecture -- near the middle of the Tibet-Qinghai plateau -- will be higher than Tibet's Bamda facility.
The airport, to be located about 230 kilometers (140 miles) north of capital Lhasa, will be the sixth in the remote region.