Alibaba to launch China-Russia freighter services

Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao has teamed up with Aviastar-Tu and Pochta Russia to launch freighter flights carrying e-commerce goods.

According to a report in Reuters, Cainiao will lease seven freighters from the two Russian companies to launch daily flights from China to Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Krasnoyarsk on behalf of AliExpress Russia.

The move is aimed at cutting delivery times for orders from Russia to China to 10 days.

Aviastar-Tu is not the only Russian carrier to benefit from e-commerce demand growth.

Last month, Atran Airlines added its sixth freighter to create additional capacity to cater for an “e-commerce bonanza”.

The company said that the additional freighter would help it meet growing demand for e-commerce shipments, including mail, between China, Russia and CIS states.

As part of its e-commerce push, Volga-Dnepr formed a partnership with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s Cainiao logistics arm last year.

The partnership saw Atran launch a weekly service from the technology hub, Hangzhou, which is also an important e-commerce gateway, to Riga.

It has also formed partnerships with Singapore Airlines and Chinese express airline YTO and has revealed plans to establish five global logistics hubs to meet demand for faster delivery.

• Cainiao reveals plans for five global logistics hubs

• Atran continues fleet expansion as it embraces “e-commerce bonanza”

• Volga-Dnepr to become preferred carrier for Alibaba’s logistics arm