Han Ximin

1824295095@qq.com

SHENZHEN Bao’an International Airport has recently intensified flights on cargo routes to Paris and Riyadh to meet increasing cross-border e-commerce demands.

Starting from Friday, the Paris route operated by Central Airlines and YunExpress increased from three to six flights a week. Meanwhile, the Riyadh route was increased to two flights a week. The operation of these flights will increase the turnover capacity of e-commerce cargoes to both cities by 600 and 200 tons a week, respectively.

Saudi Arabia, a country along the Belt and Road Initiative, is China’s biggest business partner in the Middle East, and its capital Riyadh is an important air transport hub in the region. E-commerce businesses in Shenzhen and its neighboring cities, which export home appliances and garments, can cover the Middle East market via Riyadh.

The Shenzhen airport opened the cargo route to Paris in January this year, the third international e-commerce route jointly operated by Central Airlines and YunExpress. The operation of the new route promotes e-commerce trade between Shenzhen enterprises and the European market.

Data showed the cross-border e-commerce trade between January and July at the airport doubled year on year, and took up one-third of the total international cargoes, mail and parcel turnover. Among e-commerce commodities exported, around 40% were electronic products made in Shenzhen and other Pearl River Delta cities.

Since 2023, the Shenzhen airport has opened five new international cargo routes and intensified five international routes including seven e-commerce routes to Paris, London, São Paulo, Tel Aviv, Riyadh, Leipzig and Davao, bringing the total international destinations to 35 cities in North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania.

Shenzhen’s air cargo network, which covers 23 countries and regions in five continents, enables the city’s exports to reach Asian cities in two days and other major world cities in three days.

In recent years, the Shenzhen airport has been building a cross-border e-commerce hub for parcels and mails through partnership with logistics companies including SF Express, DHL, YunExpress and Cainiao.

Recently, the airport opened a yard for e-commerce enterprises to handle their export businesses, enabling the airport to process 200,000 tons of e-commerce cargoes annually.

YunExpress, which has settled in the yard, can now handle about 300 tons of cargoes through the 1,000-meter-long fully automated parcel-sorting line.