Guangzhou continues efforts to become airport logistics hub

Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, is sparing no effort to combine existing airport sources and expansion projects to build an airport logistics hub in the country and an international aviation logistics center in the Asia-Pacific region.

Qiu Zhizhong, deputy director of the Guangzhou Aerotropolis Development District, said the move aims to better serve the promotion and construction of the country's Belt and Road Initiative and help boost the opening of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The Greater Bay Area includes nine Guangdong cities: Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing, plus Hong Kong and Macao.

"Construction of an airport logistics hub and an international aviation logistics center is also an important measure to help build the southern metropolis into an international logistics center and an international consumption center city in upcoming years," Qiu said at press conference in Guangzhou on Wednesday. "And it will play an irreplaceable role in Guangzhou's high-quality development in the years to come."

To achieve this goal, Qiu urged a speeding up of modern logistics projects and improvement of the level of software and hardware configuration and services in the years to come.

He promised to strengthen coordination between Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and other aviation hubs to help build an aviation logistics portal hub in the future.

"We will further strengthen the expansion of international aviation freight routes and accelerate the agglomeration of a modern aviation logistics industry," he said.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic last year, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport handled 43.77 million passenger trips, becoming the busiest airport by passenger flow in the world in 2020.

The value of air cargo imports and exports at Baiyun reached 356.93 billion yuan ($55 billion) in 2020, making it become one of the most important aviation logistics centers in the world.