Photo/Sichuan Airlines Logistics

On April 16th, a fully loaded cargo plane took off from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport and flew to Budapest.

This marks the first flight of Chengdu’s direct cargo route to Budapest, complementary to the cargo route to Brussels, Belgium. At the same time, this is also the first cargo air route from western China to Eastern Europe.

The Chengdu-Budapest cargo route will be operated by Sichuan Airlines Logistics with Airbus A330 cargo aircraft, three flights per week. It mainly transports intelligent electronic products manufactured by China’s key enterprises and cross-border e-commerce goods to the Western city and brings back auto parts, electromechanical equipment, and other goods.

In the first quarter of 2023, Chengdu had 117,000 takeoffs and landings of flights, with passenger throughput reaching 15.693 million people and cargo throughput reaching 156 thousand tons. Among them, the cargo volume achieved through Shuangliu International Airport reached as high as 126 thousand tons.

Budapest is the capital of Hungary and the seventh-largest city in the European Union. It is also an important transfer station in Eastern Europe. In recent years, with the continuous strengthening of economic and trade cooperation between China and Hungary, China has become Hungary’s largest investor. According to Budapest Airport statistics, the airport’s cargo throughput in 2022 increased by 43.2% compared to 2019, mainly due to the rapid growth of import and export goods with China.

On the other hand, relying on its convenient geographical location and Budapest International Airport as a hub, it can reach out to Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and other countries through a ground transfer network.