China boosts global reach with over 70 new int'l air freight routes in H1

China's air freight sector took off in the first half (H1) of this year, with the country launching 90 new routes, including over 70 international connections to meet surging demand, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said on Sunday.

China launched 16 new domestic air freight routes and 74 international ones, including 39 linking countries and regions in Asia, 17 to Europe, 15 to North America, two to Africa and one to Oceania, according to H1 data.

"Due to geopolitical conflicts, many consignors have switched from ocean freight to air freight, which has driven up a strong demand for air freight. In general, with the same cargo volume, one to two percentage points of reduction in maritime transport will bring around 20-percent growth for air logistics," said Cui Zhongfu, deputy head of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.

During the same period, China's civil air transport turnover was 70.3 billion tonne-kilometers, up 32.2 percent year on year, with domestic routes handling 47.04 billion tonne-kilometers, up 16 percent, and international routes completing 23.26 billion tonne-kilometers, up 84.1 percent year on year.

The country saw 26,700 scheduled cargo flights in H1, a year-on-year increase of 6 percent. It maintained regular cargo flights to 48 overseas air destinations in 42 countries, with Chinese airlines carrying out 8,784 such flights and foreign airlines completing 17,900 such flights.

"A sentiment that is prevalent in the air freight market is that the slow season is not slow at all. Both Chinese and foreign airlines are upbeat about the Chinese market. So currently we are seeing a sound growth momentum regarding scheduled cargo flights, but such a momentum is more obvious in terms of unscheduled cargo flights," said Shang Kejia, an official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Amid rising demands from deliveries of products in cross-border e-commerce as well as electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and photovoltaic products, China implemented 3,300 international cargo charter flights in the first half of the year, up 9 percent year on year, and up 8.5 times from the number during the same period in 2019.

China boosts global reach with over 70 new int'l air freight routes in H1

China boosts global reach with over 70 new int'l air freight routes in H1

China's warehouse storage sector maintained expansion in March, according to the index released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) on Thursday.

In March, China's warehousing index reached 50.8 percent, rising by 0.6 percentage points from the previous month and remaining in the expansion zone for the fifth consecutive month.

Driven by policies aimed at promoting consumption, demand for warehousing services continued to grow steadily, with the consumer goods market performing particularly well. Warehousing demand for food, household appliances, textiles, and daily necessities surged, leading to a significant rise in the new order index.

"The warehouse storage sector has remained in the expansion range for five consecutive months, reflecting the overall stability of the warehousing sector. The demand for warehousing in the livelihood consumption sector continues to strengthen, boosting activity across the entire warehousing sector," said Liu Yuhang, director of the China Logistics Information Center.

In terms of inventory levels, the average inventory turnover index reached 54.5 percent in March, an increase of 8.2 percentage points from the previous month, entering the expansion range. Overall, in the first quarter, the warehousing sector continued to expand, business demand maintained steady growth, and the industry operated smoothly and efficiently.

China's warehousing storage sector maintains expansion in March