China Southern Cargo is the latest major carrier to join Stansted Airport’s global cargo network when it began a new service to Guangzhou n 20 June.

The airline now operates two flights a week, rising to three a week later this year, to Stansted from China’s third largest city, using a B777-200 freighter. The service will be the only direct freighter link between the UK and China and the airport’s first scheduled cargo link to Guangzhou.

Andrew Harrison, London Stansted Airport’s managing director, said: “With spare runway capacity to support significant growth and additional economic activity, MAG‘s ambition is to develop Stansted into the premier scheduled freighter airport for the UK. The airport sits at the heart of the London-Stansted-Cambridge growth corridor, and with the region booming and London’s economic activity shifting towards the east, Stansted is ideally placed to support businesses trading internationally and looking to compete in the global market place.”

More than 230,000 tonnes of freight is shipped annually on more than 11,000 cargo flights to over 200 countries from Stansted. It is the busiest airport for all-freighter traffic among the London airports and transports thousands of tonnes of textiles, fruit and vegetables, electronics, pharmaceuticals, mail, horses and Formula One equipment to destinations in nearly every continent.