HANGZHOU, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- A Tu-204 cargo aircraft left Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province Friday morning, opening a new route to Russia.
The cargo flight was carrying a maximum payload of 28.5 tonnes of goods, mainly clothing, shoes and hats, from Zhejiang and its neighboring regions to Novosibirsk, Russia, according to Chen Mingrong from Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport.
"The service will operate three times a week," Chen added.
Previously, goods from Hangzhou, the hometown of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, were transported to Russia by railway or road.
"The new freight air route will cut the transportation time from 15 days around 7 or 8," said Qiu Zhiwen of China Postal Express and Logistics.
Logistics data showed that more than 10 million parcels were sent from Zhejiang to Russia in 2016, up 92.78 percent year on year.
The freight air route is expected to increase orders from Russian consumers and boost cross-border trade.
"In the future, Hangzhou airport aims to launch more freight air routes to foreign countries and regions such as Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Maldives," a spokesperson for the airport said.
