Manchester's Airport City is to be overhauled in a joint British-Chinese project.
The £800 million scheme will be the largest in the UK since the Olympic Games and around 16,000 jobs are likely to be created.
Aside from the obvious benefits to air freight carriers, it will also see five million sq m of business space created, which is to be used for manufacturing, warehousing, offices and hotels.
The deal is a key part of the government's vision for Airport City as an enterprise zone, a flagship coalition policy that assures businesses simplified planning permission.
Chancellor George Osborne, who is currently on a five-day trip to China to foster relations between the two countries, said the investment plan is designed to secure "a recovery for all parts of the country".
He added there is no point repeating mistakes of the past when "investment and growth [was] only concentrated in the City of London".