China's Hainan to launch Haikou-Paris air freight route

HAIKOU, March 18 (Xinhua) -- China's southern tropical province of Hainan will soon launch a Haikou-Paris air freight route to serve international cargo transport of its free trade port.

HNA Cargo Co., Ltd., the cargo transport subsidiary of Hainan-based HNA Group, signed the agreement on the regular air freight service Wednesday in the provincial capital Haikou with Dynamic Parcel Distribution (DPD), a subsidiary of GeoPost S.A., owned by French company La Poste.

Under the agreement, a Boeing 787-900 plane will make round trips between Haikou and the French capital of Paris twice a week with the maiden flight scheduled for March 27.

The two companies have been committed to deepening cooperation on intercontinental air freight service for duty-free products and cross-border e-commerce logistics.

China released a master plan for the Hainan free trade port on June 1 last year, aiming to build the province into a globally influential, high-level, free trade port by the middle of the century.