Officials head to Chengdu for regional airports conference

Chengdu is to host a conference for senior decision-makers to discuss the development of airport cities in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Airport Cities Asia Pacific 2015 event, which runs from May 13 to 15, will be attended by senior officials from airports, airlines, real estate and urban development companies, and government departments.

Sponsored by global events-led marketing and communications services business UBM, Airport Cities Asia Pacific is one of a series of events serving the global airport development and real estate communities.

This year's event is expected to be the largest to date, bringing together about 600 guests.

Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province, is the second Chinese city to host the conference, after Beijing.

"I'm confident that the event in Chengdu will be a success," said Wolfram Diener, UBM Asia senior vice-president at a news conference in Chengdu.

He said he was impressed by the achievements of Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport and the city's plan to build a second airport.

As a regional hub in western China, Chengdu has been attracting worldwide attention with its huge market potential and development opportunities, Diener said.

Sun Shaoqiang, deputy general manager of Sichuan Province Airport Group, said the company is looking forward to learning from the experience of other airport cities. This knowledge will help with building the new airport and making Chengdu an international aviation hub, Sun added.

Chengdu is the fourth-largest aviation hub on the Chinese mainland.

Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport has 245 routes, 82 of them linking to international destinations. It handled 37.5 million passengers last year, and this figure is expected to rise to more than 40 million this year.

The central government has approved construction of a new airport in Chengdu, which will make it the third city on the mainland to have a second airport, after Beijing and Shanghai.

The new airport is expected to handle 40 million passengers a year by 2025 and 80 million to 90 million passengers annually after full completion.

Chengdu has also been selected to host the 22nd World Route Development Forum in September 2016.