China Eastern to launch scheduled flights to Santiago

Beginning later this year, Shanghai-based China Cargo Airlines will begin serving Santiago, Chile (SCL), with regular scheduled flights. The new flights will normalize the carrier’s seasonal perishable charters.

Since 2013, China Eastern Logistics, the forwarder parent of China Cargo Airlines, has been directly organizing perishables exports from South America with airfreight transportation provided by its affiliate carrier. On Nov. 20, a China Cargo Airlines-operated charter flight carried 100 tonnes of cherries between SCL and Ningbo (NGB) for the first time.

Charter flights will soon be operated as scheduled flights, according to local media reports. Originating from the carrier’s Shanghai (PVG) hub, the flights, utilizing a 777F, will connect Asia and the Americas with the trans-Pacific rotation. From Shanghai, the flight will call to Los Angeles (LAX) and SCL before returning to PVG via NGB.

An existing Asia-to-Europe flight between PVG and Frankfurt (FRA) will be modified to add intermediate stops in Ningbo.