YTO opens a new gateway with the launch of intl flight from Jiaxing

At around 11:00 on May 28, YTO Airlines flight YG9007 took off from Jiaxing for Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, marking the official launch of the first international cargo route from the Eastern Sky Gateway, YTO's global aviation logistics hub in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province. The event also signified the formal activation of the hub's international functions, representing a key step forward in YTO's transformation into an integrated international supply chain solution provider.

At the launch ceremony, Yu Weijiao, chairman of YTO Group, said the Eastern Sky Gateway, after more than a decade of meticulous planning and over three years of intensive construction, has finally become a reality. With the launch of the first cargo flight, a new "hub era" has begun. YTO will continue to adhere to its principle of "taking market and customer experience as the core, creating value for customers, and helping them achieve excellence and success through our products and services." Following the guidelines of "comprehensive functions, optimal costs, fast transit times, quality service, strong technology, pleasant environment, and industrial agglomeration," YTO aims to build the Eastern Sky Gateway into a world-class aviation logistics hub and a new engine for high-quality regional economic development.

The maiden flight was operated by YTO Airlines' "Jiaxing" B767 full-cargo aircraft, with three flights scheduled per week. The route will primarily transport goods — including garments, footwear and leather materials, computer and mobile phone accessories, auto parts, and cross-border e-commerce parcels — from the Yangtze River Delta industrial belt to South Asia, providing stable cargo capacity for exports from the region to South Asian markets. Return flights will bring seasonal seafood from the Bay of Bengal, further enriching China's domestic consumer market and enabling efficient two-way circulation.

By the end of this year, the Eastern Sky Gateway is expected to launch more than 10 international routes, connecting key cargo hubs in Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, the Americas, and Europe, thereby establishing an initial network that "radiates across Asia and reaches Europe and the Americas," creating a convenient air corridor for regional foreign trade.

As the core carrier for the inaugural international cargo route, the Eastern Sky Gateway's hub capabilities are rapidly being realized. This specialized aviation logistics hub is tasked with key national strategic roles: the Jiaxing Aviation Intermodal Center (as a national-level center), and three major hubs — a national logistics hub, a specialized aviation logistics hub, and a global postal and express hub. With a total investment of 12.2 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) and covering about 1,500 mu (around 100 hectares), the hub includes seven functional zones, including an air cargo terminal, smart warehousing, integrated bonded areas, a multimodal transport center, and aircraft maintenance facilities. Integrating air, rail, sea, and road multimodal transport, it aims to become a comprehensive international aviation logistics hub that covers all cargo types, connects the entire supply chain, and enables full ecosystem integration.

The opening and operation of the Eastern Sky Gateway will further amplify Jiaxing's strategic advantage as a hub in the Yangtze River Delta. With rapid connections to the Zhajiasu Expressway, the airport's freight road network, and other high-speed road and rail links, as well as seamless integration with surrounding sea-air hubs such as Shanghai Pudong Airport, Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport, and Zhapu Port, the hub's multimodal transport network will create a 90-minute coverage of major cargo origins in the Yangtze River Delta, a 1.5-hour linkage with the Shanghai-Hangzhou-Suzhou-Ningbo metropolitan area, and a three-hour air radius reaching key industrial belts and population centers across China — firmly underpinning the foundation for industrial and supply chain distribution.

In line with the nation's high-level opening-up strategy, the "dual circulation" development paradigm, and the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, the Eastern Sky Gateway will deeply integrate industrial and supply chains, driving industrial growth through the hub. It is expected to foster the emergence of hundred-billion-yuan-level upstream and downstream industrial clusters in sectors such as biomedicine and chips, thereby boosting the development of the airport economy.

In the future, YTO's Eastern Sky Gateway aims to become a new hub, channel, gateway, and center for global commerce and logistics, serving the dual circulation of domestic and international markets and supporting the steady rise of China's industries going global and the nation's level of openness.