China will soon allow foreign airline flights freer access to the western part of the country to help boost development.
The vice director of China's civil aviation administration, Yang Guoqing, says Beijing will end limits on overseas air carriers who apply to operate international flights in western areas.
The state-run China Daily newspaper says passenger traffic in western China increased 35 percent last year over the year before.
China's current economic boom has largely gone unnoticed in the country's thinly populated, landlocked western region.
Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.