Asia's 1st 'professional cargo airport' conducts trial flights in China

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - This weekend saw a successful trial flight at Asia's first "professional cargo airport" in China, state media reported on Monday.

An air freighter was used in the trial that was held at Ezhou Huahu Airport, located in Ezhou city of central Hubei province, and its success signaled that the airport is "ready for operation," Chinese public broadcaster CGTN reported.

Ezhou Huahu Airport is also the world's fourth "professional cargo airport," and the first in Asia.

The airport was designed to serve a throughput of up to 1 million passengers, with cargo and mail throughput estimated to reach 2.45 million tons in 2025, the report said.

The construction of the airport began in December 2017 and is expected to open to traffic around June.

It is equipped with two runway and taxiway systems and a freight transfer center spanning nearly 700,000 square meters (over 7.5 million square feet), and will serve as an "air cargo hub and feeder airport for passenger transport," the report added.

January and February saw growth in cargo activities at China's ports.

According to China's Transport Ministry, the ports saw an increase of 2.7% in cargo passage year-on-year to 2.36 billion tons in the two-month period.