Sun Yingjie, left, chief of the Sichuan Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, unveils the nameplate of the new Chengdu Airport Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau with Teng Zhongping, deputy secretary-general of the Sichuan provincial government. [Photo by Huang Zhiling/chinadaily.com.cn]

The Chengdu Airport Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau was set up at Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, on Wednesday.

The bureau under the administration of the Sichuan Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau has been upgraded from an airport office of the latter.

"With the upgrading of status, the Chengdu Airport Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau will have the independent right to administrative law and to improve work efficiency. When it was the airport office, it had to report everything to the Sichuan Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau as it had no independent right," said Luo Yuan, an information officer with the Sichuan Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau.

The Shuangliu airport is one of China's busiest. It has 86 international routes. In 2015, more than 4 million passengers left and entered China through the airport, said Teng Zhongping, deputy secretary-general of the Sichuan provincial government.

The airport office set up in 1999 was in charge of the inspection and quarantine of aircraft, personnel, luggage, postal parcels and goods leaving and entering China through the Shuangliu airport.

"In 2015, it seized nearly 8,778 kilograms of prohibited animals, plants and products made of them from overseas, up 37 percent over the previous year. It found 79 passengers from overseas who were suffering from contagious diseases, up nearly 147 percent over the previous year," said Sun Yingjie, chief of the Sichuan Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau.