What they say

Editor's note: At the ongoing 13th Route Development Forum For Asia in Kunming, Yunnan province, delegates from the region and beyond talked about the industry's developing trends and their impressions of the host city and province.

The service at Kunming airport is great and there are so many flights to Thailand from Kunming. Yunnan needs to attract more people concerned about its wonderful tourism resources. The connection between Thailand and Yunnan will be closer in the future.

Amphawan Wannako, deputy director general of the Department of Civil Aviation of Thailand

It is fantastic that we are able to bring Routes Asia to China once again. The Yunnan Airport Group has attended many routes events over the years and we look forward to working more closely with their team over the next 12 months. With its beautiful landscapes and mild climate, Yunnan province is one of China's major tourist destinations and we are eager for our delegates to experience Kunming - the "city of eternal spring" - and Yunnan province.

Katie Bland, director of Routes at UBM EMEA

This is the first time I have come to Kunming and I feel that Kunming airport is great. It is important to have good infrastructure for developing airports. Yunnan has so many similarities to Southeast Asia, like Thailand and Laos. Yunnan also has many ethnic groups, which are mysterious. I think Yunnan can attract more tourists and making visas easier can attract even more people.

Conrad Clifford, regional vice-president for Asia-Pacific, International Air Transport Association

Yunnan is a very important market for Air Asia. One of our experiences over the past years is that we must cooperate with local governments and companies to achieve long-term success. In the future, we will continue our efforts to develop routes in accordance with Chinese government strategies and plans.

Lao Celia, general manager of Air Asia Greater China

We are honored to be the first city in Europe to have nonstop flights to Kunming. We hope that this new service will become a great success because of the two attractive places - Paris and Kunming - and also because of the long-established relationship between France and China. We will do our best to promote this new service, and also do all that is possible to strengthen the cooperation between the Paris Airport Group and Yunnan Airport Group.

Hugues Potart, head of the network department of Airport International Charles de Gaulle

Compared with the old airport, the new Kunming airport is much better. But still a lot of foreigners do not know that the Kunming Airport is a gateway to South Asia, so Yunnan needs to let more overseas people know about it. They need to go out and promote themselves.

Adam Wu, chief operating officer of China Business Network

(China Daily 03/16/2015 page15)