CHENGDU -- Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan province has become the third city on the Chinese mainland, after Shanghai and Beijing, to handle over 80 million air passengers annually, the provincial airport authorities said on Thursday.

This milestone was marked by the landing of the Sichuan Airlines flight 3U8890 at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport on Thursday, said Sichuan Province Airport Group Co Ltd.

Chengdu's aviation hub, featuring two international airports, Tianfu and Shuangliu, operates as an integrated dual-airport system with five runways and a total terminal area of some 1.21 million square meters.

China's vast western regions once had the weakest infrastructure in the country. Thanks to China's continuous efforts in developing its western regions since the beginning of this century, infrastructure development in the regions has undergone major changes.

Figures from the end of October show that Chengdu is operating 50 international and regional passenger routes and 33 cargo routes, with direct flights to major global air hubs such as London, Frankfurt, Rome, Los Angeles, Doha, Dubai and Singapore.