Chongqing- Loaded with Wushan crisp plums, a kind of featured fruits of Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, China Postal Airlines Boeing B737 full cargo aircraft took off from Wushan airport to Nanjing on July 2, marking the official launch of Chongqing Wushan Airport's first full-cargo chartered flight.

After realizing the direct flight, this plane will land at the Nanjing distribution center at least three hours ahead compared with taking off from Chongqing. More cities and customers will enjoy access to fresh fruit in a short time. 

15 chartered flights for plums

Wushan crisp plum is a new cultivar of crisp green plum with dignified fruit shape, crisp and tender flesh, pit separability, and sweet taste, which will usher in the peak market season at the end of June every year.

To break through the bottleneck of tight transportation capacity in the peak season receiving and dispatching the fruit, the relevant departments launched the direct flights of Wushan crisp plums postal airline origin and introduced the postal airline crisp plums chartered freight flights for the first time. 

The Wushan-Nanjing crisp plum freight linewas the first chartered freight route carried out by Chongqing Wushan airport. It is also the first full cargo aircraft transportation route in Chongqing that is specially escorted for the export of high-quality fruits from the origin.

According to a representative, the China Postal Airline's crisp plum chartered flights will be carried out one flight per day through the whole crisp plum season with 15 flights as estimated. It is operated by Boeing B737 full cargo aircraft, with a maximum capacity of 18 tons carrying 7,000 cases of Wushan crisp plums.

In addition to direct postal airlines, China Postal Airlines also opened a direct land transportation route from Wushan to Chengdu and Wuhan. According to the arrival time, it will be earlier, at least 6 hours, than the original operation mode, providing the users a better experience.

Reaching over 61 major cities in China 

Wushan is well-known as the hometown of crisp plums in China. For a long time, due to the inconvenient transportation, it is usually hidden in the mountains and unknown to the public.

However, launching this freight chartered flight route is a concrete practice to consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation and promote rural revitalization.

This special freight chartered flight set up a bridge in the air for Wushan crispy plums to expand the markets. This famous Chinese fruit will take advantage of Wushan Airport and China Post's extensive express network, quickly reaching over 61 major cities across the country by air within 24 hours, greatly improving the timeliness of its transportation and ensuring its quality, according to the Chongqing Wushan Goddess Peak Airport Co., Ltd.

At the same time, allowing foodies from all over China to taste Wushan crispy plums at a lower price and a faster speed also increases locals' incomes, who rely on cultivating crispy plums via direct air transportation.

Known as the "airport on the cloud," Wushan airport serves as an important aviation infrastructure in Chongqing's inland opening and important support for the commercial trade in Northeast Chongqing. In the future, Wushan airport will improve its operation support capacity, constantly meeting people's diversified and multiple travel needs.

(Ge Rongchen, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)