Last year, national postal operator Russian Post received a record number of cross-border parcel deliveries as well as a record number of those from China, whose volume soared by 26% and amounted to 320 million items. Russia Post’s aircraft performed 182 flights from Russia and delivered some 4 million kilograms of packages.
The growing dynamics of commodity flow generated by cross-border e-commerce requires expanding the route network in China, which has resulted in Russia’s national postal operator adding new air routes on China’s territory. Within a month, Russia Post’s Tu-204-100C aircraft will begin performing flights to the city of Nanjing in addition to the flights to Hangzhou, Zhengzhou and Harbin.
Regular air flights allow speeding up the delivery of the growing volume of goods from China. Today, flights are performed from Hangzhou to Novosibirsk, from Hangzhou to Kazan, from Harbin to Yekaterinburg, and from Zhengzhou to Novosibirsk.
In 2018, Russia Post aircraft – each having their own name, “Peter the Great” and “Catherine the Great”, – served from 2 to 5 flights to China weekly. The number of flights varies depending on the dynamics of the flow of goods purchased by Russian citizens on China’s e-commerce platforms and reaches its peak during pre-New Year holiday period.