Ezhou Huahu Airport, the fourth professional freight airport in the world and the first in Asia, was put into operation on July 17, in Hubei Province.

The new airport is equipped with a cargo terminal of 23,000 square meters, a freight transit center of nearly 700,000 square meters, and 124 parking stands and two runways. It is expected to improve the transport efficiency of air freight and further promote the country's opening up.

Within 1.5 hours from the airport, the goods are able to reach the five major national city clusters in China, including the Yangtze River Delta city clusters and the Pearl River Delta city clusters. Now, domestic goods are expected to arrive in one day and international goods in two days.

Ezhou Huahu Airport and Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, which are no more than 100 kilometers away, have formed a "double hub" pattern for air passengers and cargo.

This year, Huahu Airport will gradually launch passenger routes between Ezhou and Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Chongqing, Chengdu, Kunming, Qingdao and Ningbo, and cargo routes between Ezhou to Shenzhen, Shanghai, Frankfurt and Osaka.

It is estimated that by 2025, the new airport will have an annual throughput of one million passengers and 2.45 million tonnes of cargo and mail.

(With input from Xinhua)