Beijing Daxing International Airport, China's newly-opened mega airport, handled its first cargo route on June 11.

State-owned news agency Xinhua said the massive airport handled a B757-200 aircraft operated by SF Airlines, carrying a shipment of fresh local waxberries from Hangzhou which was approximately a 2.5-hour flight from Daxing.

Currently, the airport has 24 cargo freighter stands, that can handle 2 million tonnes of goods annually.

The 7.5 million square feet, Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX), opened to flights in September 2019, which is expected to initially help decongest the existing Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK).

Located about 46 kilometres south of Tiananmen Square in the far south of Beijing and designed by famed Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, Daxing Airport is anticipated to handle 45 million passengers by 2021, 72 million by 2025 and 100 million by 2040, with initial capacity allowing 300 take-offs and landings per hour.

Dubbed as the “starfish” due to its appearance – the airport is currently the world’s largest terminal in a single building, and is expected to initially handle 2 million tons of cargo annually by 2025 and 4 million tons of freight per year after that.

Last May 14, China’s Civil Aviation Administration permitted freighter flights to operate all-cargo services at Beijing's two airports, raising earlier restrictions that made operators choose only one — effective immediately.