Yunnan Airlines will work with city authorities to build a regional airline in Lijiang, Southwest China’s Yunnan province.

He Lianghui, mayor of Lijiang, had a talk with Liu Jian, vice general manager of Yunnan Airline, about the subject last Thursday.

Yunnan’s provincial government plans to upgrade the province into a strong and competitive market in aviation by building regional airlines to tap the provincial market and increase regional airline capacity.

"Lijiang is rich in tourism resources and boasts huge potential market,” said Liu Jian. “After expansion, Lijiang airport will be the main operation base for the regional airline.”

"Take into consideration the current market situation, operation costs and future development, Lijiang is qualified to become an air hub,”said He Lianghui.

Lijiang received 7.5 million visitors, including 500,000 foreigners in 2009.

By Guo Changdong and Zhang Nan