China opens first air cargo route between Urumqi and Islamabad

(ECNS) -- A new air freight route linking Urumqi n northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Islamabad in Pakistan officially opened on Tuesday, as a plane carrying 2.57 metric tons cross-border e-commerce cargo left Diwopu International Airport for Pakistan with a flight duration of about 2.4 hours. 

The new cargo route will further boost the development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor  and promote economic and trade exchanges between the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)partner countries.

Two to four flights are scheduled on this route every week, providing more than 26metric tons of air-cargo delivery capacity per week.

This air route will mainly serve cross-border e-commerce and transportation of high-value-added products.

After the launch of this route, the logistics time between Urumqi and Islamabad will be reduced from the original 10 days by land transport to just about 3 hours.

The Diwopu International Airport in Urumqi launched a dedicated area for international cargo inspection on December 19 last year, reducing cargo flight clearance time by approximately one hour and significantly improving port clearance efficiency.

As of early March of this year, over 700 international cargo flights passed through this airport this year, representing a 9.2-fold increase in traffic compared to the same period last year, data from the Urumqi Immigration Border Inspection Station.