THE 22nd World Route Development Forum kicks off today in Chengdu, a mega-city in western China. The four-day forum, being held at the Chengdu Century City New International Convention and Exhibition Center, will gather delegates from government departments, international organizations, airlines, airports, tourism authorities to discuss the new development trend and strategy in aviation industry on a global scale.

As an influential event, the World Route Development Forum is considered a catalyst to the growth of the aviation industry, and it offers opportunities for the host city to showcase its strength to its potential global airline partners.

Delegates from the world’s major carriers, including American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Japan Airlines, Finnair, Emirates, Qantas and Air China, will be present at the forum .

“The airlines are increasingly looking east for future growth and no other country is currently investing in aviation like China,” said Adrian Newton, the group director with forum organizer UBM EMEA. The annual forum has been held in different cities across the world since 1995 to focus on various aviation markets.

Chengdu beat Paris and Seoul to become the host city of this year’s forum, making it the second Chinese city after Beijing to hold the world’s premier route development event. It was held in Beijing in 2009. Officials from Chengdu port and logistics department said hosting such a big event will help Chengdu improve its airline network in the coming years.

As one of the most important economic, technology, culture and creation, and transportation centers in western China, Chengdu is home to 278 world’s top 500 multinational enterprises such as Microsoft, Intel and IBM.

With the rapid development on the local air transportation industry, the provincial capital of Sichuan is now taking great strides toward becoming an international aviation hub.

“We are looking forward to meeting senior decision-makers from the airlines at World Routes to discuss global aviation and development strategy and share the achievements of cooperation and communication,” said Li Wei, board chairman of Sichuan Province Airport Group Co Ltd. The Chengdu Shuangliu airport has become the largest international air hub in the central and western China with significant potential for growth, he said.

The passenger’s turnover at the airport has been increasing by 40 percent in the past three years to make it the fourth busiest airport on the mainland. It handled 42.2 million passengers in 2015 and the number is expected to increase to 47 million by the end of this year, according to the airport authority.

The city, which is listed among the “52 Places to Go in 2015” by New York Times and one of China’s top 10 tourist destinations, also attracts an increasing number of transferring air travelers from across the world with its 72-hour visa-free transit policy. The tax-refund scheme has also helped foster domestic brands and had a direct impact on tourist arrival as well as on tourists’ spending.

Dutch carrier KLM already considers Chengdu a promising market as the city has become the economic center of western China, said Bas Gerressen, general manager of Air France KLM China.

KLM opened its first direct European flight connecting Chengdu and Amsterdam a decade ago. The airline has begun deploying its new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to fly the Chengdu route since March 28 to celebrate the 10th anniversary for the Chengdu-Amsterdam route. “KLM is proud to introduce our most-advanced aircraft, the Boeing 787-9, to the strategic and fast-growing destination,” said Gerressen.

KLM has named one of its Dreamliners the Hibiscus, which is the city flower of Chengdu, to highlight the strategic importance of Chengdu market to the airline, said Gerressen.

He said Chengdu is expected to become another major Chinese gateway to Europe after Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou as the city has opened more intercontinental flight routes recently.

Gerressen said Chengdu is a very ideal host city for the upcoming World Route forum, which will become a great opportunity for the city to exchange with world’s airport and tourism counterparts.

“It is also quite special to KLM, because we are the first Western airline to open direct route between the city and Europe a decade ago,” he added.

“The World Route will help the world and the civil aviation industry to understand Chengdu as an international air traffic hub as well as new gateway of China,” he said.

About 80 percent of passengers from Chengdu transfer at Amsterdam to other European nations, according to KLM. Gerressen said he hoped the Chengdu airport could better support the airline to transport world’s travelers to China through Chengdu, taking advantage of its 72-hour visa free policy. The airline currently has four weekly flights between Chengdu and Amsterdam, through which passengers can transfer to 70 European cities on the same day, KLM said.

By the end of August, Chengdu has 89 international air routes connecting the city with 74 overseas hubs around the world, which is the highest in western and central China. Some 40-plus are regular direct flights covering important hub cities in North America, Europe, Middle East, Oceania and Asia.

To tap the rising demand that comes with being a global air traffic hub, Chengdu is building a second airport, the Chengdu Tianfu International Airport, which is designed to accommodate 40 million passengers and 700,000 tons of cargo annually. Some 320,000 aircraft will also take off and land at the new airport’s three planned runways annually. Its total investment is about 70 billion yuan (US$10.49 billion). After it opens to the public, the airport will make Chengdu the third city in China, after Beijing and Shanghai, that has two international airports.

“The new airport will also help the development of the Tianfu New District in Sichuan Province and accelerate the opening process of the province,” an official with the Sichuan Development and Reform Commission said.

The forum also includes a strategy summit scheduled tomorrow, when Peter Bellew, CEO of Malaysia Airlines, will give a speech on the global aviation industry. The summit will also feature a panel of representatives from other airlines and airports, who will discuss on the global state of the industry.

A tourism summit on Monday will focus on discussions on aviation and tourism. Topics will include Chinese outbound tourism and the impact of travel technology on destination marketing.

Previously, the forum has been held in Abu Dhabi, London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Dubai, Vancouver and Beijing. World Route is expected to bring an over 1 billion yuan in economic growth to the host city within three years, according to York Aviation, a UK-based air transport consultancy.