Maersk Air Cargo is responding to increasing customer demand with a new scheduled service between Billund, Denmark (BLL) and Hangzhou, China (HGH).

The company said the inaugural flight, which took off on 20 March, marks the first scheduled air cargo operation between Denmark and Asia.

Maersk will operate three scheduled flights each week using the Boeing 767-300 freighter recently purchased, and all Europe-China flights will be operated by Maersk Air Cargo.

Maersk opened its air freight hub at Billund Airport in Denmark, and the company believes the corridor from BLL will significantly increase access for high-value and time-sensitive cargo between Scandinavia, Northern Europe, and the entire Asia-Pacific.

The airport facility in Billund houses a 4,000-sqm import and 13,000-sqm export facility with separate areas for cold storage, dangerous goods, scanning and ULD handling.

Billund airport will have a Maersk Air cargo team with pilots and aircraft maintenance staff, a flight operations team and a freight forwarding team all available to secure reliability for Maersk customers.

Maersk recently launched a new air freight service with scheduled flights between Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina (GSP) and Incheon (ICN) operated by Miami-headquartered cargo airline Amerijet International. It also opened a new air freight gateway facility at Chicago O’Hare International and Rockford International.