ETIHAD Cargo is increasing its services to China from this month with new bellyhold capacity between Abu Dhabi and Chengdu.
From the end of this month, cargo capacity to and from Chengdu will grow 40 per cent to 930 tonnes a month – a result of the current five-weekly A330 passenger services between Abu Dhabi and Chengdu moving to a daily operation.
Chengdu is considered a leading economic, transportation and communications centre in China, where nearly half of the world’s Fortune 500 companies have operations.
Situated in Sichuan province, which is home to more than 80 million people, Chengdu is also one of China’s biggest markets for foreign direct investment.
The cargo increase comes against a background of increasing trade flows to and from China and Abu Dhabi.
Last year, Etihad Cargo carried more than 73,000 tonnes of goods to and from China, up 33 per cent on 2012.
Kevin Knight, chief strategy and planning officer at Etihad Airways, says: “Our additional services to Chengdu provide shippers with convenient, daily access to points all across our global network.
“Today, we offer just over 19,000 tonnes of monthly cargo capacity to and from China, with unique direct access out of China to the Indian subcontinent market, where we offer services from Shanghai and Hong Kong to the cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Dhaka.
