Tibet Airlines announced last week that it will launch 20 new routes starting on Sunday to provide more convenient travel services to the Tibet autonomous region.

Among the new routes are flights that connect Lhasa, the regional capital, with Shigatse and Chamdo, and with cities around China including Jinan, Xi'an, Nantong, Yantai, Wenzhou, Quanzhou, Harbin, Zunyi, Luzhou and Sanya.

The new routes between Jinan, Shandong province, and Shigatse, Tibet, will help boost communication, the airline said. Shigatse is one of the places in Tibet where Shandong province is carrying out various projects to aid the city's overall development.

Routes to Xi'an, Shaanxi province, Lanzhou, Gansu province, and Chamdo will build an air bridge between these places the first time and help boost economic and cultural exchanges between the places, the airline said.

Guo Lian, a staff member at Tibet Airlines, said the company now has more than 80 domestic air routes, and the number of plane will reach 37. A new one is expected to be operational by the end of the month, she said.

"Hampered by the global coronavirus pandemic, international flights are not operating at the moment," Guo said.