Reported by Jia Puyu, China Civil Aviation News / China Civil Aviation Network: In the early hours of September 21, Jiaxing Nanhu Airport launched its all-cargo route to Luxembourg. The next day, the cargo route to Chicago was inaugurated as the airport's second North American cargo service. While new air routes are being rolled out rapidly, China's ground air cargo terminals are also expanding capacity. Recently, the cross-location air cargo terminal linking Shenzhen and Qingdao was put into operation, and Phase II of Sichuan Airlines International Cargo Terminal at Chengdu Tianfu International Airport passed completion acceptance.
New routes and new terminals reflect the transformation of airport cargo business: shifting from scale expansion to structural optimization, efficiency improvement and resilience building. The route network is expanding at speed, reshaping the hub landscape; service models keep innovating to boost service capacity; industries cluster into complete chains, enabling in-depth integration of airports, industries and cities. Today, operating efficiently and pursuing differentiated competition and coordination, air cargo hubs are charting a new growth trajectory, supporting China's diversified trade development and high-level opening-up.
A New Hub Layout Built on Differentiated Competition and Coordination
Data released by the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing shows that in the first eight months of this year, 115 new international air cargo routes were opened nationwide, adding 292 weekly round-trip flights. The air route network has witnessed intensive expansion. Together with the growth of market players and upgraded cargo mix, the new routes are accelerating the formation of an air freight network covering major global economies.
As the network grows denser, the hub landscape is reshaped. Air cargo corridors centering on four world-class airport clusters - the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Chengdu-Chongqing region - have gradually taken shape. The route network reaches Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia, with improved connectivity to Europe, America and Oceania. Ezhou Huahu Airport, the dedicated cargo hub, continues to strengthen its functions. Air cargo capacity at Zhengzhou, Tianjin, Hefei and other hubs is steadily rising. A multi-tiered cargo hub system is taking shape, with airports pursuing differentiated competition and coordination, each leveraging its strengths.
Against this backdrop, Ezhou Huahu Airport - the world's fourth and Asia's first dedicated cargo airport - carries high expectations. After nightfall, the apron remains brightly lit, with one full-cargo aircraft taking off roughly every three minutes. Fresh produce from across the globe arrives here and can reach all parts of China the next day, while local specialties along the Yangtze River can be shipped worldwide within two days. Backed by its "nationwide next-day delivery and global overnight delivery" capability, the airport is evolving from corridor economy to hub economy. As of September this year, Ezhou Huahu Airport has launched 122 cargo routes covering more than 170 countries and regions worldwide, ranking first in China by the number of full-cargo routes.
As China's second dedicated cargo airport, Jiaxing Nanhu Airport has blazed a distinctive path, filling supply chain gaps amid large hubs including Shanghai Pudong and Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airports. Located at the geographic heart of the Yangtze River Delta, Jiaxing enjoys a prime location yet long lacked direct global air access. Existing major hubs in the Yangtze River Delta are approaching their capacity limits, and Shanghai Pudong also shoulders heavy international passenger traffic duties. Hence, dedicated cargo airports such as Jiaxing Nanhu are urgently needed to share the workload, forming a multi-support development pattern with coordinated passenger and cargo services.
With routes to Dhaka, Budapest, Los Angeles and other destinations successively opened, cargo handled by Jiaxing Nanhu Airport has expanded from traditional light industrial goods to high-value-added products. As planned, the airport will launch 20 international cargo routes within this year, initially building a network radiating across Asia and reaching Europe and America, transforming from a water town in the south of the Yangtze River into a global gateway.
Professor Ouyang Jie from the School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Civil Aviation University of China, states that China's air cargo hubs should pursue differentiated task allocation based on respective location, industrial and infrastructure endowments. Comprehensive gateway cargo hubs including Shanghai Pudong, Shenzhen and Zhengzhou should capitalize on belly cargo capacity of passenger flights and sound port conditions, focusing on general cargo, high-value foreign trade goods and special cargo such as cold-chain pharmaceuticals. Dedicated cargo hubs like Ezhou Huahu and Jiaxing Nanhu shall focus on full freighter consolidation and transshipment for express delivery, building super transfer centers for logistics enterprises. This creates a complementary framework: full freighter centralized sorting + belly hold general cargo distribution.
Across China, comprehensive cargo service capacity of international air hubs in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing in the east keeps improving. Central hubs in Wuhan, Zhengzhou and Changsha are competing to boost transfer connectivity, while western airports are expanding service coverage.
In 2025, six airports nationwide achieved annual cargo and mail throughput exceeding 1 million tonnes. Shanghai Pudong Airport handled 4.0939 million tonnes of cargo and mail, among which international and regional cargo hit 3.7354 million tonnes, accounting for over 91%. Guangzhou Baiyun Airport recorded 2.4399 million tonnes of cargo and mail, with international and regional volume at 1.6033 million tonnes (65.7%). Shenzhen Bao'an Airport handled 2.0509 million tonnes, including 1.0666 million tonnes of international and regional cargo (52%). Beijing Capital Airport's cargo throughput reached 1.5509 million tonnes. Airports in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou together account for 40.7% of cargo throughput of all domestic commercial airports.
With more airports competing in the market, breaking away from homogeneous competition is an unavoidable challenge.
Professor Ouyang suggests adopting a holistic strategy for the cargo hub system. Eastern hubs shall prioritize connectivity with Europe, America, Japan and South Korea; central hubs link the Eurasian continent; western hubs expand routes to Central Asia, West Asia and Africa. Together with overseas cargo bases, this will fill gaps in air corridors for South-South cooperation, forming a multi-tiered air cargo network balancing domestic and international services, covering general cargo, express parcels and special shipments. It supports the development of the Air Silk Road and facilitates trade and economic exchanges among Belt and Road partner countries.
Speed Boost: Innovation in Operation Models
Competition between cargo hubs lies not only in route networks but also service capability. The party that builds a more convenient, stable and resilient logistics chain will seize the initiative. In recent years, airports nationwide have strived for process reengineering and model innovation to raise efficiency through reform.
A prominent change is the relocation of cargo terminals. In August 2025, China's first record-filing comprehensive forward air cargo terminal was commissioned, moving airport functions such as security screening and palletizing right to enterprises' doorsteps. Previously, goods from enterprises in Kunshan and surrounding areas required multiple transfers to Shanghai Airport for these procedures. Now all procedures can be completed at the forward terminal, followed by dedicated shuttle trucks to Shanghai Pudong Airport. Logistics lead time from Kunshan to Shanghai has improved by over 60%, and corporate operating costs reduced by more than 30%. This precisely meets Yangtze River Delta enterprises' demand for both speed and cost control, opening fast air freight channels for high-end manufacturing and cross-border e-commerce.
While forward terminals bring cargo handling closer to factories, Shenzhen Airport connects scattered off-site terminals into an integrated network to extend hub service radius. Following terminals in Urumqi, Xi'an and Lanzhou, three new cooperative sites were added this year in Hangzhou, Hohhot and Qingdao, strengthening links with core air hubs in the Yangtze River Delta and North China. The newly launched Shenzhen-Qingdao cross-location terminal further optimizes Shenzhen Airport's air logistics nodes around the Bohai Rim, shortening cargo transit time and upgrading overall efficiency and service quality. The multi-point off-site terminal network effectively cuts transfer lead time and expands the coverage of Shenzhen's hub logistics services.
Simplification of transfer procedures is also underway. Under the airside direct supervision model at Chengdu Tianfu International Airport, import and export goods transferred between domestic and international flights can go through inbound checking, manifest exchange and label replacement directly within the airport airside area without exiting the cargo terminal. Under this model, goods transferred between domestic and international flights skip two handover steps and one security check, cutting transit time by more than 5 hours compared with traditional workflows, accelerating customs clearance and lowering logistics costs.
Domestically, Tianjin Binhai Airport rolled out cross-terminal, cross-airline domestic air-to-air transfer services. A dedicated transshipment and sorting zone is designated in the domestic airside warehouse, supported by dedicated staff and information sharing. The shortest transfer connection time currently reaches approximately 3.5 hours.
Digitalization has revolutionized internal terminal operations. After the commissioning of the Smart Port air cargo terminal at Shanghai Pudong Airport, 75 unmanned forklifts perform automatic door-to-door shuttling. Four high-speed circular sorting lines achieve a sorting capacity of over 10,000 parcels per hour. A 15,000 sqm professional cold storage supports adjustable temperatures from -60℃ to 25℃. AI-powered security screening safeguards safety while boosting inspection efficiency. Compared with conventional terminals, the Smart Port doubles overall operational efficiency and cuts manual intervention by over 50%.
Digital transformation also extends to document processing. As China's only pilot airport for air electronic freight, Zhengzhou Xinzheng Airport has developed innovations including electronic air waybills, standardized freight systems and an air e-freight information platform.
From forward terminals and operational innovation to digital empowerment, airport cargo business is evolving from on-site handling to ecosystem operation. All these innovations ultimately answer one question: what value can air cargo bring to industrial, urban and regional development?
A New Gravity Field: Integrated Development of Airports, Industries and Cities
Every takeoff of an air cargo flight lands back on the ground - within airport-related industries, on people's dining tables, and on a city's openness roadmap.
Represented by dedicated cargo hubs, Jiaxing Airport Economic Zone is demonstrating strong industrial attractiveness. Relying on Jiaxing Nanhu Airport, the zone is building a "1+3" industrial system centered on air logistics, supported by cross-border trade, producer services and airport-oriented high-end manufacturing. Statistics show the zone has signed 23 air logistics projects, 5 cross-border trade projects, 37 airport-oriented high-end manufacturing projects and 10 producer service projects. A new airport city integrating airport, industry and urban development is emerging.
In Ezhou, Huahu Airport is driving the shift from corridor economy to hub economy. Powered by fast air freight, logistics, trade, manufacturing, finance and other factors are gathering rapidly. Airport-oriented industries including precision manufacturing, cross-border fresh food, cross-border e-commerce and biomedicine are forming clusters. The airport has grown into an open platform organizing global supply chains, converting cargo flight traffic into tangible industrial gains.
Regional air logistics serve as capillaries of the whole network, connecting characteristic resources from remote regions to national and global supply chains. The growth of county-level economies and rising lower-tier markets have boosted shipments of fresh agricultural products, small e-commerce parcels and light manufactured goods, creating new growth drivers. The key to developing regional air logistics lies in exploring local specialty industries, consolidating scattered cargo sources, linking trunk hubs via combined trunk and feeder routes, and transforming feeder air transport from passive support to self-sustaining growth.
Qitai Jiangbulak Airport in Xinjiang is a typical example. On June 11, 758 kg of white apricots and cantaloupes were flown directly from here to Fuzhou and entered local markets the same night. As a key northern Xinjiang regional air hub, the airport has introduced cargo-friendly policies to greatly reduce outbound logistics costs for growers and distributors. Behind the same-day delivery of fresh fruits lie upgraded local forestry and livestock industries, and a miniature of western counties integrating into the domestic economic cycle.
Air cargo also expands port radiation scope, granting inland cities access to "air seaports". Xi'an Xianyang Airport launched multiple new westbound full-cargo routes this year, facilitating trade and economic exchanges between Shaanxi and Europe in electronic information, equipment manufacturing and biomedicine, building an air bridge for "Shaanxi-made" exports to Europe. Meanwhile, openness dividends translate into industrial strength. Airport New City focuses on airport-oriented industries such as biomedicine, aircraft maintenance and environmental protection to promote industrial clustering, making the Air Silk Road a driver of industrial upgrading.
Challenges remain, including fluctuating external demand, regional cargo competition and pressure on operating costs. Faced with both opportunities and challenges, how can airports break through, upgrade hub capacity and better fuel regional economic growth?
Professor Ouyang puts forward three suggestions. First, strengthen the function of comprehensive transport hubs, improve the land-air multimodal transport system to boost transshipment efficiency and convert traffic volume into retained value. Second, promote coordinated work among the "3+7+N" international air cargo hubs, clarify functional positioning and form a differentiated and coordinated network. Third, seize opportunities from global AI computing infrastructure deployment, meet transport demand for high-value goods such as chips, upgrade professional support capabilities for cold chain and oversize cargo, and deepen integration between air logistics, advanced manufacturing and digital industries. It is also essential to continuously optimize international cargo route networks, innovate port and operational models, and drive high-quality development of regional and national economy through hub upgrading.
From opening a single route to forming a full network and fostering industrial clusters, air cargo is building a more open and resilient air corridor for foreign trade. At the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, it charts a new curve of high-quality development.
Short Commentary: Identify the Growth Path for Cargo Hubs amid Competition and Coordination
Since the start of this year, China's international air cargo network keeps expanding, and cargo infrastructure construction across airports accelerates. Amid booming air cargo development, problems including homogeneous competition, overlapping functions and resource waste have gradually emerged. Only by defining clear development paths and pursuing differentiated development amid industrial competition and coordination can hubs unlock internal momentum and achieve steady growth.
To find the right path, hubs must build on local endowments and adopt differentiated work allocation to escape homogeneous competition. For instance, comprehensive gateway cargo hubs and dedicated cargo hubs each have strengths and weaknesses; complementary coexistence enables them to fully leverage respective advantages. Geographic differentiation also matters. Eastern hubs facilitate external opening-up, central hubs act as core transshipment nodes, and western hubs target markets in Central Asia, West Asia and Africa. This nationwide holistic layout avoids disorderly competition while expanding network coverage and elevating hub capacity.
In addition, innovation in cargo service models underpins hub competitiveness. In recent years, cargo hubs across China have explored differentiated innovation paths based on geographic strengths and industrial needs: forward terminals cut lead time and corporate costs; streamlined transfer workflows greatly shorten transit duration; digital transformation enables intelligent operations for higher efficiency. These differentiated breakthroughs are tailored to each hub's positioning and resources. Only when innovations and layout match their development tracks can hubs achieve unique and superior services.
Moreover, cargo hub development should empower regional growth, converting traffic volume into retained value and transport corridors into functional hubs. The core value of air cargo lies not merely in growing route numbers and cargo throughput, but in driving local real economy. Comprehensive international hubs rely on industrial clusters in major cities to open overseas channels for high-end manufacturing. Dedicated cargo hubs attract industrial investment through speed and sorting capacity. Small regional airports connect county-level specialty agricultural products to air logistics networks. Different types of airports, performing their respective roles and working in tandem, can truly benefit regional economies.
Competition spurs faster progress; collaboration enables farther flight. Air cargo development faces both challenges and opportunities, and hub development remains an arduous task. Airports should stick to their positioning, pursue coordinated development under orderly competition, boost efficiency via model innovation, add momentum through industrial integration and strengthen resilience via cross-regional collaboration. This will build a more robust air cargo network, providing long-term support for diversified trade and regional socioeconomic development. (Edited by Zhang Wei, Proofread by Li Jiwei, Reviewed by Han Lei) Excerpted from China Civil Aviation Network
Comment
Jiaxing Nanhu Airport is positioned as a dedicated cargo hub in the Yangtze River Delta, filling supply chain gaps amid large hubs such as Shanghai Pudong and Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airports. Such differentiated competition means rising demand for full freighters and large-load ULDs (Unit Load Devices) at dedicated cargo airports. New route launches directly drive supporting demand for loading equipment including pallets and air containers.