Bournemouth wins northwest China freighter

A new freighter service has been launched between Urumqi in northwest China and the UK’s Bournemouth airport.

According to Xinhua, Urumqi Diwopu International Airport said that the service will operate four round trips a week, with a flight time of ten hours.

The airport in the Xinjiang region now has freight routes to eight countries, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Hungary.

Bournemouth Airport and its in-house handling arm, Cargo First are part of Regional and City Airports (RCA) group. The south of England gateway has in the last few years developed into a significant air cargo hub, being the home base of European Cargo’s fleet of Airbus A340-600 freighters. The airport already handles regular European Cargo freighter flights to and from Chengdu, central China, launched in April 2023, and from Haikou in the south.

In June, European Cargo and Cargo First said they were preparing for the addition of three more Airbus A340 freighters, adding a fourth aircraft in July and with two more to follow before October but without confirming which routes they would be used on. Cargo First has recruited 15 new members of staff in warehousing, aircraft handling and security roles in the past year.

Bournemouth has in recent years pitched itself as an alternative to congested London airports and has developed into a major import centre for the UK e-commerce market, one of the largest in the world.

Earlier this month, SF Airlines launched a new cargo route between Urumqi and Budapest in Hungary to serve e-commerce, agricultural and speciality product demand.

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