A new air cargo service was recently launched connecting Haikou, a coastal city in South China and Incheon in South Korea.

The regular cargo service operated by South Korean airline Air Incheon first took off from Incheon International Airport, bound for Haikou, on February 19.

It flew on the first all-cargo route opened by Meilan International airport in 2023, the main international airport serving Haikou and Northern Hainan Island in China.

State media reported that the new route's weekly round-trip cargo volume is expected to surpass 30 metric tonnes, exporting mainly general cargo, e-commerce cargo, parcels and flowers and importing mostly duty-free goods.

The route will be operated twice weekly, departing from Incheon every Tuesday and Saturday and returning to Incheon every Wednesday and Sunday.

The flights would increase the speed and convenience of duty-free imports from South Korea in Haikou and boost the efficiency of the duty-free goods supply chain, Xinhua said.

In 2023 so far, Hainan operated an average of 18 cargo flights per week, with an approximate total international inbound and outbound cargo volume of 958 tonnes.

Meanwhile, aside from the Haikou-Incheon route, there are three other scheduled international cargo services from Meilan International airport: these are Sydney and Haikou-Singapore-Jakarta flights.

On average, there are 14 flights a week from the airport.