Asia's first professional freight hub airport, the fourth of its kind in the world, saw its first flight take off from central China's Hubei Province on Sunday, according to China Media Group.

Located in the city of Ezhou, the Huahu Airport has a 1.5-hour flight circle covering China's five national-level urban clusters, including the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions.

The airport serves passengers in the daytime and transports cargo at night. Departing from Ezhou, passengers and goods can reach the whole country overnight and overseas destinations in two days.

Huahu Airport has seven routes and nine destinations from Ezhou to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xiamen and Kunming in the initial stage of passenger transport.

Its cargo service is expected to be launched at the end of November, with two routes from Ezhou to Shenzhen and Shanghai open in the first phase, followed by international services to destinations such as Osaka and Frankfurt.

Huahu Airport is set to become a first-class aviation freight transport hub, forming a "dual-hub" for passenger and cargo aviation in central China together with the Wuhan Tianhe Airport that's less than 100 kilometers away. 

By 2025, the airport aims to serve an annual passenger throughput of one million visits and a cargo and mail throughput of 2.45 million tonnes.