New Tianjin Airlines service flies into Heathrow from Chongqing
29 / 08 / 2018
Heathrow has welcomed its first scheduled flight arriving directly from the Chinese city of Chongqing.
Operated by Tianjin Airlines, the inaugural flight of what is a three times a week A330-200 service landed at the UK’s busiest air gateway this past weekend.
The service will offer capacity for up to 3,744 tonnes of exports and imports each year to the Chinese city and its surrounding region.
Chongqing forms part of China’s ‘West Triangle Economic Zone’, a statement from Heathrow noted, an area that also incorporates Chengdu and Xi’an and which contributes nearly 40% of western China’s GDP.
“The economic growth of Chongqing regularly tops that of other Chinese cities, and there are no signs of it slowing down,” the statement added.
According to London Heathrow’s own statistics, last year a total of 137,000 tonnes of cargo was flown directly between the gateway and China – an increase of more than 10% on 2016.
Ross Baker, the airport’s chief commercial officer, remarked: “Heathrow is proud of its role as the UK’s hub airport and biggest gateway for Chinese passengers and cargo going between our two countries.
“But we have much further to go, and now that Parliament has voted unequivocally in favour of Heathrow expansion we will ensure London, and the UK, become the destination of choice for Chinese trade, tourism, and investment.”
Read more cargo airport news
Sign up to receive Air Cargo News direct to your inbox for free
