(Yicai) May 29 -- Jiaxing Nanhu Airport, China's second purpose-built air cargo hub and the first in the Yangtze River Delta region, has completed its first international cargo flight.

A Boeing 767 cargo jet took off from Jiaxing Nanhu Airport in eastern Zhejiang province toward Dhaka yesterday morning.

Jiaxing Nanhu Airport is positioned as a "passenger and cargo hub with a focus on cargo," completing its maiden domestic passenger and cargo flights last December. Its runway can accommodate nearly all types of large cargo aircraft, including the Boeing 747, with 33 of its 56 parking spots reserved for such planes.

The core operator of Jiaxing Nanhu Airport's cargo business is YTO Cargo Airlines, the air freight subsidiary of express delivery company YTO Express Group. Of the 20 international cargo routes planned to be launched this year, more than half will be operated or chartered by the unit.

The first batch of cargo routes planned for this year will also include Budapest and Seoul, according to officials from the Jiaxing Transportation Bureau.

YTO Cargo, which operates a fleet of 19 cargo planes, relocated its headquarters from Hangzhou to Jiaxing following the opening of Jiaxing Nanhu Airport last year. The company plans to deploy eight jets at the airport this year and add more in the future.

YTO Cargo is operating the international air logistics hub YTO Skyhub near the runway of Jiaxing Nanhu Airport, which marked the start of its global logistics services after yesterday's flight. Given the proximity of the cargo station, customs, and bonded warehouse, the hub enables fast customs clearance, quick transshipment, and rapid delivery of goods.

About 70 percent of the air cargo in the Yangtze River Delta region previously relied on Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Yu Zhanfu, chief strategy expert at Guangdong Zhongda Management Consulting Group, told Yicai. With the opening of Jiaxing Nanhu Airport and YTO Skyhub, a regional air cargo specialization structure will be formed, Yu noted.

In this structure, Pudong Airport will serve as the leading hub, Jiaxing Nanhu Airport will act as the specialized cargo hub, Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport will function as the belly cargo transport hub, and Hefei Xinqiao International Airport and Nanjing Lukou International Airport will be effective supplementary nodes, Yu pointed out.

The city of Jiaxing is located around 85 kilometers away from Shanghai and Hangzhou, respectively.

The exports of Evergrand Int'l Supply Chain, which owned the cargo on the maiden flight, used to require three to four days of domestic transit to catch a flight, Deputy General Manager Jiang Changyan told Yicai. However, the transportation cycle has been significantly shortened thanks to Jiaxing Nanhu Airport operating fixed weekly flights, while the punctuality and stability of cargo transport have greatly improved, Jiang added.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev