China Southern Airlines, one of China's largest airlines, has inked an agreement with southwest China's Chongqing Municipal Government to transform the city into an "aviation hub", local authorities said Thursday.

Upon completion, the Chongqing aviation hub will facilitate travel to China's western plateau areas and will provide travelers in western China with more international flights, said a spokesman for China Southern Airlines.

Due to lack of international airlines in western China, most travelers in these areas have to fly to eastern cities, such as Shanghai and Guangzhou, to transfer to international flights.

China Southern Airlines will increase the number of flights linking Chongqing to high-altitude tourist areas on the western plateau, such as Lhasa and Nyingchi in the southwestern Tibet Autonomous Region, as well as Kunming and Lijiang in southwestern Yunnan Province, the spokesman said.

About twenty flights operated by China Southern Airlines are expected to go into operation in Chongqing sometime in the summer or fall of this year, according to the spokesman.

Since 2009, China Southern Airlines has been building "aviation hubs" in four cities, including Beijing, Guangzhou, Urumqi and Chongqing.

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