The Yangtze River Express announced to open a cargo route between Chengdu and the Paris Vatry Airport on April 2. It is the first direct cargo route to Paris in West China.

The Boeing 747 total cargo aircraft will serve the route with three round-trip flights per week.

"With emerging industries, such as IT, settling in Southwest China in the recent two years, Chengdu has attracted some express giants to open cargo routes to Chengdu," said DHL managing director, Wu Dongming. DHL Express is a division of the German logistics company Deutsche Post providing international express mail services.

The Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport's cargo handling capacity reached 406,000 tons by November 2011, exhibiting a year-on-year increase of 9.1 percent. Its international cargo handling capacity realized 21,500 tons, a year-on-year increase of 118.4 percent.

The Korean Air, UPS, Evergreen International Airlines, Air China Cargo and Yangtze River Express all opened routes to Chengdu in 2011. The Chengdu route networks have expanded from Asia-Pacific regions to European cities, including Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Koln, Warsaw, Milan and Prague.

Chengdu has seven international direct routes and twelve code-sharing routes. It is expected to turn into the fourth largest regional logistics center in China after Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. It will also be a transit center to Europe and Asia with 30 international direct flights by 2015.