News / China e-commerce boom fuels flurry of new charter flights and freighter routes

China’s cross-border e-commerce volumes are surging, prompting new charter flights and freighter routes to keep up with demand.

Alibaba’s logistics unit, Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, said this week it would increase its charter flights to 1,260 over the next nine months.

It chartered 200 flights during March and April, an increase from an average 100 to around 140 flights a month.

Cainiao said the additional flights would allow it to halve its average international airfreight delivery time to three-to-five days – in 2015, ...