Today, Cargolux announced the addition of a third weekly frequency to Xiamen (XMN) it made at the beginning of this month.
The route departs from Luxembourg (LUX) on Monday mornings, and arrives in XMN the following morning. On its return, the flight stops in Los Angeles (LAX) on its way to LUX. According to Cargolux, the additional frequency makes its service the only direct freighter connection between the Xiamen and the U.S.
Cargolux said in a statement that the flight going to LAX will mainly transport clothing and electronics.
Other carriers have similarly expanded their China network in recent weeks. SF Airlines launched a new route last week between Urumqi (URC) in China’s western Xinjiang province to Almaty (ALA) in Kazakhstan. Lufthansa Cargo’s time-critical logistics subsidiary time:matters expanded its “Same–Day“ network with several connections to China last week, as well.
The moves show that despite the ongoing trade dispute between China and the U.S., carriers are continuing to expand operations between the two countries. Tensions in the trade war somewhat relaxed at the recent G20 summit, and the U.S. rolled back a planned 25% tariff on $300 billion of Chinese goods. The International Air Traffic Association (IATA) wrote in its May traffic report that though the efforts to make peace are welcome, they won’t necessarily lead to trade growth.