Airfreight industry reaches for new heights

By LI BINGCUN in Shenzhen, Guangdong | China Daily Global | Updated: 2021-02-22 07:35
Share
Share - WeChat
Staff members at Shenzhen airport load anti-pandemic medical supplies onto an aircraft in March last year. CHINA DAILY

In February and March last year, operations at the airport hit rock bottom because of the pandemic, forcing Zhang to work mostly from home.

However, he said the turnaround came in April, when the airport apron was packed with aircraft from different countries. Zhang said he had never seen some of the planes, including an Antonov AN-124, the world's second-largest cargo aircraft, in the 16 years he had worked at the facility. Some of the aircraft had been previously requisitioned for military use.

One company even sent a fleet of six planes to the airport on a single mission.

Face masks, testing kits and ventilators were flown from the airport to other parts of the world to help people in need at a time when the pandemic was being brought under control in China but was raging elsewhere.

At China's busiest airports, including Shenzhen's, there was acute demand for exports of medical supplies to fight the pandemic.

Zhang's team worked night and day to handle the huge amount of work. He lives near the airport, and sometimes had to be called back to work in the middle of the night. Some of his colleagues who live farther away voluntarily slept at the airport to save time.

Air cargo demand remained strong last year, but the supplies being shipped changed as the world entered a new phase in the battle against the virus.

Initial demand for anti-pandemic supplies was followed by orders for e-commerce goods, ranging from fitness equipment to gardening tools. Demand for such items was strong in developed countries with burgeoning "stay-at-home" economies.

Vaccines are high on the list as countries look to inoculate their populations to contain the pandemic.

|<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next   >>|
Photo
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US