The arrival of an Air China Cargo Boeing 747 Freighter at Vienna International Airport Wednesday morning marked the official launch of the first air cargo service between China and Austria.
It is also the third cargo service between China and Europe, joining services from Beijing to Frankfurt and Copenhagen.
The new service runs from Shanghai to Milan, Italy, via Beijing and Vienna, and then returns to Shanghai. It will run three times a week with a single carriage capacity of 110 tons.
Herbert Kaufmann, chief executive officer of Vienna International Airport, told Xinhua the launch of the cargo flight to Vienna would facilitate the exchange between the two countries and promote bilateral economic and trade relations.
Air China Cargo, established in 2003, is now a global specialized cargo airline which was ranked No.15 in 2008 world's best cargo airlines.
At present, Air China Cargo operates nine B747-400 freighters, and has exclusive use of the freight capacities on 247 Air China passenger aircraft. It now provides transportation service to 81 cities throughout China and 44 cities all over the world and also operates 611 truck routes for domestic and international services.