Temporary airline launched for stuck packages

Packages stuck in Taiwan due to the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei province, which weigh 585.5 kilograms, arrived at Changle International Airport in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian province on Friday via a temporary airline.

According to Fuzhou customs, the packages would be transferred to Beijing on Saturday, after the temporary airline connecting Taiwan, Fuzhou and Beijing officially opened.

Due to the epidemic, many international flights going to and from China were cancelled or cut, and piles of packages including masks, preventive clothing and other anti-epidemic goods and daily necessities purchased by Chinese people were stuck overseas, said Fuzhou customs.

The national customs authorities supported China Post, a national delivery company to add Fuzhou, Xiamen in Fujian province, Zhengzhou in Henan province and Weihai in Shandong province as new international transportation hubs, based on existing ones including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, in a bid to resolve the delivery difficulties.

According to Fuzhou customs, the new airline, which meets the package delivery needs of civilians from Chinese mainland and Taiwan, is the first temporary airline it opened.

The custom also said it has cooperated with Beijing customs and made considerate working plans, in an effort to ensure the entering packages pass the custom fast and simplify the transfer procedures to the maximum.

The custom will strengthen the supervision, set up a special working team, have each transfer link under control, and assign employees to assure the preciseness of package data, ensuring that the packages pass the custom fast, it said.

Huang Siyu contributed to this story.