Aerial photo taken on June 15, 2020 shows the construction site of the Chengdu Tianfu International Airport in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province. The construction of the Chengdu Tianfu International Airport is carried out smoothly in Chengdu. The first phase of the airport construction includes 3 runways and a terminal which covers an area of 600,000 square meters. (Xinhua/Wang Xi)

The epidemic outbreak has caused severe damage to the aviation industry, but the constructions of aviation hubs in the western region including cities of Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province and Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality are speeding up.

The construction site of the Chengdu Tianfu International Airport in Chengdu is going smoothly. 

Latest pictures show that the main body of the terminal building has been capped, the two runways have been fully connected, and the subway line to the urban area has begun trial operation.

Located in Lujia Town of Chengdu, it is the city's second airport targeted at international flights. It will be the biggest airport in west China and the fourth-largest in China when it comes into service. It will make Chengdu the third city in China to have two international airports.

Chengdu is not alone. 

The third phase of Xi'an Xianyang International Airport was approved at the beginning of the year. Kunming Changshui International Airport will start the expansion and reconstruction project this year, and its second airport is also under planning. 

This year, Chongqing will start construction of the fourth runway of Jiangbei International Airport and advance the preliminary work on the second airport.

The above-mentioned airports handle large flows of passengers. In 2019, the passenger throughputs of Chengdu, Kunming, Xi'an and Chongqing were 55.86 million, 48.08 million, 47.22 million and 44.79 million respectively, ranking 4th, 6th, 7th and 9th among the airports nationwide.  

Air China, which operates the most flights between China and Europe, resumed direct flights from Chengdu to Frankfurt in Germany in August, the first flight to restart from western China to Europe. 

It is widely believed that air cargo has played an important role amid the virus control, and speeding up aviation development is conducive to promoting regional economic development.

The State Council also said in a guideline that it encourages cities such as Chongqing, Chengdu and Xi'an to speed up the international hub construction.

Xi'an Xianyang International Airport's third-phase reconstruction and expansion project aims to be completed in 2025, with passenger throughput expected to reach more than 100 million in 2035. 

The Jiangbei Airport in Chongqing will achieve an annual passenger throughput of 75 million. 

As one of the country's largest civil airport projects, the Tianfu airport is slated to be basically completed by the end of 2020 and officially put into operation in the first half of 2021.

By 2025, the phase one of the airport will have the capacity for annual passenger throughput of 100 million, and annual cargo and mail throughput of 1.9 million tons. After all four terminal buildings and six runways are repaired, the annual passenger throughput of airport will reach more than 160 million in 2035.

However, amid the global epidemic, the aviation market development faces uncertainties, and insiders warn that these hub airports should avoid getting into vicious competition.