The new freighters will be put into operation in early July on the routes from China to the US and Europe, the carrier said in a statement.

The US route will see Guangzhou- Los Angeles served four times per week, while the Europe route will see Guangzhou-Paris-Vienna increased to three times weekly. The upscaling of that route comes very quickly on the heals of its inauguration on 21 June. A day earlier on 20 June the carrier had also launched a new Guangzhou-London (Stansted)- Frankfurt route, also relying on B777F equipment.

With the new London and Paris freighter destinations, the number of maindeck destinations of China Southern Cargo in Europe total five, including Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Vienna. With this newly added freighter capacity plus belly capacity on passenger flights, China Southern will be able to offer nearly 1,200 tonnes of cargo capacity from Guangzhou to Europe on a weekly basis – more once the increase in frequency on the Guangzhou-Paris-Vienna route is factored in.

Through cooperation with ground handling agencies, truck companies, and airlines partners, China Southern has built up a distribution network centered around the five destinations.

This has enabled the carrier to transfer cargo to more than 100 cities around Europe, offering ‘same-day’ and ‘second-day’ delivery service. At the same time, value added services such as BUP delivery, full truck delivery, DG and temperature controlled transportation can be offered, the carrier said.

The ‘Canton Route’

In recent years, China Southern has been dedicated to building the socalled ‘Canton route’, making the city of 8.5 million another major cargo hub alongside Shanghai,” the carrier said. China Southern has been positioning more freighters in Guangzhou and by July when China Southern Cargo has received its 12th B777F, the carrier will have a total of six freighters in Shanghai Pudong and six in Guangzhou. The carrier is also reportedly pulling two B747-400Fs from storage and pressing them back into service, the first one in July and the second in August, although the carrier has made no official comment on this.

“By deploying more freighters in Guangzhou, an air transportation corridor connecting the Pearl River Delta and abroad is taking shape,” and the inauguration of more freighter lanes and flights will “further extend the transporting channel between Guangzhou and abroad,” the carrier said. “By improving the network and providing more convenient transportation, China Southern will also give impetus to the Free Trade Zone development in Guangdong,” it added.

“By adding the Guangzhou-Los Angeles freighter lane, we altogether have 17 flights weekly from Guangzhou to Europe and US, an air corridor connecting the Pearl River Delta and abroad has already taken shape,” it said.

“We hope that, driving by the ‘One Belt and One Road’ Initiative, China Southern Cargo can provide more convenient service for trade and economic exchanges between China and Europe. Through these direct links, shipments such as health care products, milk powder, crab, salmon, mail, electronic instruments from UK and luxuries, fresh oyster, red wine from France can be transported to China with greater convenience and speed,” the carrier added. From its Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport hub these products can be transhipped to Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea, North America and Australia, without delay.

At the same time, China exports huge amount of mechanical and electrical products, furniture, toys, textiles and material to the Europe. As for Guangzhou air cargo exports in 2014, the top three destinations were: Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. “This is also the reason why we launched these two freighter routes,” the carriers said, adding that “in addition to the freighter flights, daily passenger flights Guangzhou- London and Guangzhou-Paris are also available to meet customer needs”, according by China Southern Cargo.

London a milestone

The London service is operated twice a week, rising to three a week later this year. The service will be the only direct freighter link between the UK and China and the airport’s first scheduled cargo link to Guangzhou.

Ahead of the launch, Zhao Fengsheng, SVP Cargo China Southern said: “It is an important milestone for China Southern cargo to launch this new freighter service from our hub in Guangzhou, China, to Stansted. We are excited by entering this growing market, with an aim to serve customer needs and strengthen the economic ties between our two countries. By working closely with Stansted Airport and our business partners, we have the confidence to make this operation a great success.”

To date China Southern has launched 14 freighter routes with 37 flights weekly taking off from Guangzhou and Shanghai, connecting domestic stops like Chongqing and Tianjin, reaching overseas destinations like Paris, London, Amsterdam, Vienna, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Chicago and Vancouver.

China Southern Cargo also runs the bellyhold cargo business of more than 500 passenger aircraft, which cover China, Asia and links to the major cities of Europe, America, Australia and Africa. In addition, China Southern Cargo has set up trucking networks in China, Europe, North America, Middle East, Australia and Japan, reaching more than 100 cities in Europe and 90 cities in North America.

Benefiting from the extensive passenger flight network, the passenger flights and the freighter flights are complementary to each other on schedule and time,” the carrier said. The cargo service to Europe and America is growing in scale with seamless transfers, increasingly making China Southern the first choice of customers, the carrier said.