Auto & Transportation

The Civil Aviation Administration of China recently released information showing that the volume of my country's civil aviation cargo flights remains at a high level, especially the volume of international trade cargo flights has achieved positive year-on-year growth. From January to July this year, the whole industry guaranteed a total of 163,000 cargo flights (including "passenger-to-cargo"), including 117,000 international trade cargo flights, a year-on-year increase of 1.8%.

From the perspective of main production indicators, affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the air cargo transportation volume in the first half of the year showed a V-shaped trend, and has basically returned to normal recently. Since March, the transportation scale has declined month-on-month. In April, the transportation scale has dropped to 420,000 tons, both month-on-month and year-on-year. Under the dispatch and command of the State Council's logistics guarantee mechanism, the traffic and logistics congestion points were gradually opened up. In May, the transportation scale returned to positive growth month-on-month. In July, the entire industry completed a total of 539,000 tons of cargo and mail transportation, which is higher than that in April. An increase of 28.3%.

From the perspective of support capability, the capability of air cargo to support the industrial chain and supply chain has been significantly enhanced. Faced with the problems of logistics and supply chains caused by the repeated impact of the epidemic and the unstable international situation this year, all units of the civil aviation system have taken the initiative to take the initiative to ensure the safe and normal operation of passenger and cargo flights at major international trade hub ports and key regional hub ports. A green channel for special materials, giving priority to important goods. Air transport enterprises have actively established transport and trade connections with key industrial chain and supply chain enterprises, and aviation logistics enterprises have greatly improved their "one-stop" and "door-to-door" integrated logistics solutions. As the "first in Asia and fourth in the world" professional cargo hub airport, Ezhou Huahu Airport was officially put into operation on July 17, which will greatly enhance the international competitiveness of my country's aviation logistics.

Since the beginning of this year, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has effectively coordinated the epidemic prevention and control and the development of air transport, and promoted my country's air cargo to maintain the recovery trend since 2021 despite the complex and severe epidemic situation.

Zhan Fen, an associate researcher at the Air Transport Research Institute of the China Academy of Civil Aviation Science and Technology, believes that there are three reasons for the high volume of air cargo flights in my country. The superposition of multiple favorable factors such as chain supplementation has stimulated the recovery of domestic demand and formed support for the high-level operation of cargo flights. Second, from the perspective of overseas production demand, in the first half of the year, production equipment parts and production materials suitable for air transportation contributed more than 80% of my country's total exports year-on-year. Overseas production demand played an important role in driving the development of my country's aviation logistics. Third, due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, energy crisis, labor shortage and other reasons, the supply chain in Europe has been blocked, product supply has been affected, and some demand has been transferred to my country. The substitution effect of the industrial chain and supply chain has played a certain role in the high-level operation of freight flights.

Liang Nan, director of the Transportation Department of the Civil Aviation Administration, said that in the next step, the Civil Aviation Administration will continue to do a good job in the development of aviation logistics and ensure smooth transportation, and contribute to stabilizing the economic market and promoting the stability of the industrial chain and supply chain.

Although my country's cargo flights remained at a high level in the first half of the year, the current downward pressure on cargo production is still relatively large. Zhanfen believes that in the next step, on the basis of stabilizing the current development rhythm of aviation logistics, we should focus on the long-term, focus on improving comprehensive service capabilities, and do a good job in ensuring transportation and supply. The first is to focus on improving the integrated service capabilities of the supply chain, and actively guide aviation logistics enterprises to strengthen cooperation with domestic important hub airports, logistics parks, free trade zones, comprehensive insurance zones and other logistics agglomeration areas, and strengthen industrial synergy and integrated development. The second is to focus on improving the service capability of aviation logistics network, strengthen the construction of "hub + channel + network", vigorously support airlines to expand distribution network, extend the air and land industry chain, and make up for the shortcomings of overseas network. The third is to focus on improving innovation and development capabilities, improve the intelligence level of the entire aviation logistics industry chain, strengthen logistics global tracking and other capabilities, and achieve innovation-driven development. The general trend of modernization and green development will transform the first-mover advantage of the current air logistics recovery into the endogenous driving force for sustainable development.

Lin Zhijie, an expert in the civil aviation industry, believes that the next step for civil aviation freight transport should focus on improving four major capabilities: First, to improve international network capabilities, build a main international trade cargo hub and an overseas regional distribution hub, and achieve low-cost and high-efficiency through inter-flight transfer of international trade and cargo. The second is to improve the door-to-door capability, extend the freight service chain from the air to the ground through self-operation or cooperation, and provide one-stop logistics services; the third is to provide high-value service capabilities, and gradually improve cold chain, fresh food, etc. The fourth is to enhance the third-party integrated service capabilities. For example, the production and transportation processes are deeply embedded in industries such as fashion companies, pharmaceutical companies, and high-end manufacturing industries, so as to provide high-efficiency, high-reliability, and low-cost third-party integrated logistics services.