Titan Airways & Geodis Open Direct Cargo Route from Chongqing to London

British charter airline Titan Airways and forwarder Geodis have launched a new round-trip cargo route from Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport in southwestern China to London Stansted Airport in the UK.

To serve the route, London Stansted-headquartered Titan is operating an Airbus A330-300 freighter that is exclusively leased by freight forwarder Geodis.

The aircraft will operate three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, said Chongqing Airport Group in a press release.

This is the first direct freight route from Chongqing to the UK, said the Group.

The A330 has a capacity of 62 tons and mainly transports cross-border e-commerce goods.

During the Covid pandemic, the forwarder had leased an A330 aircraft from Titan as it looked to head off capacity constraints due to the grounding of passenger operations.

However, earlier this year the forwarder reduced its air cargo network and began offering charter services with the aircraft when the market turned.

Speaking about its cargo developments, Chongqing Airport Group said: “Since the beginning of this year, Chongqing has actually flown four North American cargo routes, four European routes, and four Asian and regional routes, reaching 31 flights per week.”

Chongqing Airport Group said the airport plans to continue to accelerate the development of international cargo routes and promote the construction of Chongqing’s aviation logistics hub.

According to the Centre for Aviation (CAPA), Chongqing is a major hub for Chongqing Airlines and Sichuan Airlines. The airport has direct connections to all major cities, with Air China and China Southern also having a large presence at the airport. Chongqing has two runways (3,200m × 45m and 3,600m × 45m) and is classified as a 4F facility, capable of handling widebody equipment.

Fellow UK-based cargo operator European Cargo also expanded its capacity to China recently. The carrier now operates three Airbus A340 freighters between Bournemouth Airport and Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport.

In total, the airline now offers almost 700 tonnes of capacity per week on the route.