On June 17, the Shuangliu District Government of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, 
China, hosted its Aviation Economy Special Promotion Conference at the Paris 
Air Show to showcase Chengdu's business climate and Shuangliu's aviation 
industry, and to establish a communication and exchange platform for 
enterprises on the Chengdu aeronautics, astronautics and global aviation 
industrial chains. Delegates from more tan 50 well-known global corporations 
such as European conglomerate Airbus, Dassault Group of France, SNCF ("French 
National Railway Company"), Manico Group of Italy and Haite Group of Sichuan 
attended this event.

Shuangliu, this renowned aviation hub of central and western China, is speeding 
up the establishment of an internationally competitive aviation economic 
ecology and dedicating all efforts in forging a Chinese capital of aviation 
economy.

China's Number Four Airport

Shuangliu is located in the southwestern part of Chengdu, a national central 
city of China. It is one of the regions earmarked for prolific development 
efforts by the city of Chengdu, as well as home to China's number four aviation 
hub - Shuangliu International Airport.

Shuangliu boasts the four major opening-up platforms, namely the Sichuan Pilot 
Free Trade Zone, Comprehensive Bonded Zone, Bonded Logistics Center and 
International Express Mail Center, and Port of Entry for Designated Goods.

Shuangliu International Airport has 345 flights, of which there are 117 
international (regional) flights. The number of flights and flight route 
arrangement are among the best in central and western China, and Shuangliu's 
flight network basically covers the five major continents. From Shuangliu 
Airport, passengers may reach the majority of metropolises across the globe 
within merely 15 hours.

In 2018, passenger throughput at Shuangliu International Airport surpassed the 
50 million person/times threshold, successfully edging its way into the "50 
million airport club of the world". Such a massive passenger traffic also 
fortifies the foundation upon which Shuangliu may rapidly develop its aviation 
industry and position itself as an international gateway hub.

Following Air China, Qatar Airways, Vietnam Airlines and an increasingly larger 
number of carriers establish their presence at Shuangliu International Airport, 
coupled with the continuous rise of passenger throughput at a rate of about ten 
million every three years, Shuangliu's status as the "fourth pole of aviation" 
of China is becoming ever more prominent.

Creation of Top-notch International Business Environment and Green Ecological 
Environment

As the number four airport of China, aviation economy has risen as Shuangliu's 
most distinguishing industrial feature and more important competitive advantage.

In order to take an active stance on growing the aviation economy and foster an 
ideal international business climate, Shuangliu has implemented measures to 
optimize governmental affairs processes, shortened the duration to found a 
regular enterprise to just two days, and unveiled Sichuan Province's first 
corporate investment project commitment mechanism that reduces project review 
and approval time from 197 days to merely 60 days. Shuangliu is vigorous in 
promoting the "corporate coffee time" campaign, which aims to use face-to-face 
dialogues between government and companies within the time of just a cup of 
coffee to resolve issues. In addition, Shuangliu has been quite involved in 
laying the groundworks for international financial operations such as lease 
financing, cross-border payment and commercial invoice factoring, so as to 
provide to enterprises financial services like cross-border financing, overseas 
merger and acquisition (public listing) and overseas debt issuance in order to 
meet a diverse range of corporate needs.

Meanwhile, Shuangliu fantastic green ecology and environment also instill 
energy conducive to the advancement of its aviation economy. As a vital 
component of the city of Chengdu's plan to establish itself as a "park city," 
Shuangliu has plans to set up approximately 71.7 square km of parks and green 
spaces within its territory, equating to 47.8 square meters of garden and green 
space per capita. In 2018, construction for the 8,500-mu Shuangliu New Town 
Park was completed, which became the biggest urban wetland park in Asia. The 
picturesque ecology and environment of locations like the Airport Central Park 
and City Loop Ecological Scenic Belt are compelling an increasingly larger 
number of companies to invest in Shuangliu, and even more human resources of 
outstanding quality and ability have chosen to reside and pursue their career 
in Shuangliu.

Creation of the Chinese Capital of Aviation Economy

In 2017, Shuangliu District of Chengdu officially became a national-level 
Aviation Economy Model District, Pilot Free Trade Zone and a key constituent of 
the national-level Tianfu New Area, signifying yet another monumental step 
forward for the development of Shuangliu's aviation economy.

Relying on its strengths, Shuangliu is devoted to position itself as an 
internationally famed and domestically top-tier capital of aviation economy. 
Focusing on the key factors for aviation economy, aviation business district 
and aviation hub, Shuangliu will emphasize the development of the six major 
aviation economic clusters, namely aviation operation, manufacturing, 
maintenance and repair, air logistics, cross-border trade, aviation finance and 
aviation headquarters.

Shuangliu established an Aviation Economy Functional Zone that measures 134 
square km in total planned area. In 2018, the function zone newly introduced 11 
projects such as the Chengdu headquarters of China Southwest Airlines and Tian 
Lang 5G, and finished the construction of the first Low-altitude Airspace 
Coordinated Operation Center in China.

Furthermore, aviation industry development models from airports such as Shannon 
Airport in Ireland, Frankfurt Airport in Germany, Dubai International Airport 
in the UAE have been studied, active efforts have been made to build an 
aviation economic cluster, and actions have been undertaken to construct 
facilities such as the Airport Duty Free Consumption Center, Cross-border 
E-commerce Consumption Experience Center, Import Merchandise Direct Sales 
center, Sichuan Cuisine and Find Foods Tasting Center and Tianfu Culture 
Experience Center, among other venues, thereby forming an upscale merchandise 
consumption chain and commercial cluster that stays abreast of latest 
international developments.

In the future, Shuangliu will give full play to its three major comparative 
advantages of Aviation Economy Model District, inland Pilot Free Trade Zone and 
Comprehensive Bonded Zone, continue to practice the development concept of 
airport garden city, take active steps to found an airport business district 
industry system set against the backdrop of fourth generation consumption, 
establish an international airport consumption center with regional consumption 
influence and global consumption resource allocation capacity, realize the 
monumental transition from the "airport of the city" to the "city of the 
airport," and strive to achieve the grand aspiration of becoming the "Chinese 
capital of aviation economy".

Source: Shuangliu District Government