Wellington, Dec 9 NZPA - The Australian government will give foreign airlines better access to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth for services that also make stopovers at regional airports, Dow Jones newswire reported.

If a foreign airline operated a flight to Sydney via Cairns, the flight wouldn't be counted against the capacity entitlement for Sydney of that airline, within reasonable limits, Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement.

The move is designed to get more foreign carriers to fly to regional international airports such as Cairns, Broome and Darwin to boost tourism.

The government will also offer foreign airlines the right to operate from regional international airports into neighbouring countries such as New Zealand and the Pacific.