China's air cargo industry has recovered to close to the volume it was at in 2019, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has said.
As of the end of 2021, China saw the volume of air cargo and parcels rise by 8.2% from a year ago to 7.32m tonnes reported Xinhua, China’s official press agency. This is a recovery of 97.2% of the volume in 2019, Xu Qing, a CAAC official, told a press conference.
The number of international cargo flights rose by 22% year on year to 200,000, including 69,000 flights by passenger aircraft refitted into cargo carriers, Qing said.
The civil aviation industry is expected to handle 7.8m tonnes of cargo and parcels in 2022, Qing said, adding that efforts will be made to encourage air cargo companies to transform from single carriers into logistics integrators and enhance integrated logistics solutions.
Qing added that the distribution of international routes will be optimised to accelerate the building of a safe and efficient logistics network and to better cope with risks stemming from Covid-19.
The international cargo and mail throughput of China’s Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport was up nearly 50% year on year in 2021.
