Before the B747-400 freighter departed, representatives from Air China and the Dalian government held a ceremony to celebrate the occasion. They believe this new route holds strong promise for the Dalian economy, enabling cargo to be transported to Japan, North America, the Asia-Pacific region and other international destinations.

Air China Cargo’s B747-400s will fly to Frankfurt three times a week, departing China every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Although Dalian is positioned between the Northeast Asian Economic Circle and the Bohai Economic Circle, the city previously missed out on airfreight opportunities because it lacked a wide-body freighter. As a result, much of the American- or European-bound freight had to be driven to Beijing or Tianjin or flown to South Korea.

Air China Cargo is confident that this new route will eliminate such issues. “Through positive communication and close partnership between Air China Cargo and the Dalian municipal government, as well as strong support from Dalian Airport, Customs and Commodity Inspections, the freight-capacity shortage problem between Dalian and Europe was able to be resolved through the opening of Air China Cargo’s Dalian-Shanghai-Frankfurt freighter route,” an official statement read.