On September 3, 2022, the flight 5Y8470 to Chicago took off from Chengdu Shuangliu Airport, marking the successful maiden flight of the "Chengdu-North America" scheduled route. The route uses a B747F all-cargo aircraft, which is operated by Apex International Logistics (China) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Apex") and operated by Atlas Airlines, a well-known American aviation leasing service provider.
It is reported that the first inbound flight 5Y8469 arrived at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport at 7:27 am on September 3. The flight carried imported goods such as e-commerce retail. After a short stay, at 11:42 a.m., it was fully loaded with 102 tons of export cargo and departed for Chicago, USA. Exports cover electronics, clothing retail and other products. Mainly from Chengdu and surrounding areas, and also includes some transshipment goods from East China and South China, which can effectively enhance the coverage of the cross-border logistics network and develop a modern logistics industry chain centered on Chengdu and radiating to Southwest China.
The Chengdu-North America cargo route will initially fly to Chicago and New York in the United States. Flights to Chicago are scheduled to depart from Chengdu on Mondays and Saturdays twice a week; flights to New York will depart on Thursdays once a week. In the future, this route will also plan to increase the frequency of flights to Chicago and increase the route to Los Angeles to further supplement the capacity from China to the west of the United States. After encryption, the total weekly air transport capacity to the United States will exceed 600 tons, which can effectively meet the air transport needs of enterprises in Sichuan Province, Chengdu and surrounding areas for cross-border logistics.
As the central city of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, Chengdu has unique and advantageous industries such as electronic information, equipment manufacturing, and biomedicine. The local industry has a huge demand for efficient international air transportation. However, compared with air transport hubs in Greater China such as Shanghai and Hong Kong, there are relatively few cargo routes from Chengdu to North America. If the local transport capacity cannot meet the demand, it needs to be transferred to Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Hong Kong and other ports by plane or truck. Both timeliness and economy have been affected to a certain extent. The opening of the scheduled freight route from Chengdu to North America will greatly enhance the scale of the direct flight from Sichuan to North America, better serve enterprises in Sichuan and surrounding areas, improve the international logistics supply chain, and promote regional economic development.
