ZHENGZHOU, September 11, 2019. YTO Airlines has begun a five times a week B757 freighter service between Zhengzhou, Henan Province and Tokyo.

YTO Airlines is a subsidiary of YTO Express with 82 logistics distribution centers throughout China and operations in 150 countries worldwide.

The airline says it expects to double its fleet of 11 freighters by 2020.

Last month YTO Express announced plans to build an US$1.8 billion logistics hub at Jiaxing Airport in northern Zhejiang province, China.

Construction of the project’s first phase covering 80 hectares at a cost of US$1.03 billion will begin later this year. Jiaxing is approximately 90 kilometres between Shanghai and Hangzhou.

The hub is expected to open in 2021 and support 50 freighter aircraft with an annual throughput of 1.1 million tonnes by 2030.

By 2050 air cargo and mail capacity at Jiaxing is expected to reach 2.4 million tonnes.

In June Alibaba Group’s logistics subsidiary Cainiao Network announced it was the lead investor of a group funding a new US$1.5 billion logistics centre at Hong Kong International Airport.

Cainiao is setting up a joint venture with YTO Express and China National Aviation Corporation with respective shareholdings of 51 percent, 14 percent and 35 percent.