Aerial Silk Road Soars

By Shui Ning, Song Mengfei

Two thousand years ago, the Silk Road connecting Xi’an to Rome was a long journey that took more than a year. Today, China Eastern Airlines makes the journey in just over 10 hours with the world’s most advanced widebody airliner. The power of civil aviation has made the Silk Road more convenient than ever before. Over the last decade of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the “Aerial Silk Road” has connected more and more destinations around the world.

For the Common Good

The ancient Silk Road on land and at sea featured camel bells and boat paddles, while the modern Silk Road features roaring airplanes taking off and landing.

The blossoms of the ancient Silk Road covered not only the two cities at the ends — Chang’an and Rome — but also the vast land of Asia, Europe, and Africa. The phenomenon is even more pronounced by the interconnectivity of China Eastern Airlines routes.

On September 28, 2023, China Eastern flight MU703 departed Shanghai, for Istanbul, Turkiye— the only city in the world straddling Europe and Asia. The air route is the first regular direct flight between Shanghai and Istanbul operated by a Chinese airline.

At a China Eastern Airlines press conference announcing the launch of the first-ever direct flight route between Shanghai and Istanbul, Turkish Consul General in Shanghai Huseyin Emre Engin said that the new air route not only opened a new chapter of history for civil aviation, but also testified to the long-term friendly cooperation between the two great nations. He expressed hope that the new route would become a bridge of friendship and cooperation between China and Turkiye.

Air networks play an indispensable role in supporting friendly exchanges and economic and trade cooperation among all countries in the world. In 2023, the year of air travel recovery, China Eastern launched several new air routes along the Belt and Road.

On November 12, China Eastern launched a direct flight from Kunming to Siem Reap, Cambodia, cutting one-way travel time between the two cities from eight hours, with a layover in Bangkok, to only 2.5 hours.

At the Third North Bund International Aviation Forum in September 2023, China Eastern announced that it would continue to build a “Super Carrier” and create the “Silk Road in the Air.” So far, China Eastern has directly connected to 86 overseas destinations in 31 countries and regions around the world. With the help of the SkyTeam Alliance, China Eastern’s air network reaches 1,050 destinations in 166 countries and regions with more than 100 domestic and overseas offices around the world.

Over the last 10 years since the BRI was proposed, China Eastern has answered the call to expand its air network. It has launched several new international long-distance air routes to destinations such as Auckland, Amsterdam, Budapest, and Istanbul, some of which are a first for a Chinese airline.

Sharing Development Opportunities

In November 2023, the Sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) attracted the world’s attention.

China Eastern launched the world’s first CIIE-themed aircraft to welcome passengers to the expo and showcase its charm.

Having served the expo for six consecutive years, China Eastern signed purchase orders worth more than US$2.5 billion at the latest expo, with one third of the orders from the BRI partner countries, which were worth about US$1.58 billion, the highest this figure has ever been.

At the expo, China Eastern signed an order for US$1 billion worth of king crab with Russia’s Antry Group and an order for US$500 million worth of salmon with AquaChile. The two orders for delicacies became the “big-ticket orders” that China Eastern signed at the latest expo.

AquaChile was attending the CIIE for the first time upon an invitation from China Eastern. “Thanks to development of Belt and Road cooperation and friendly Chile-China friendly relations, China Eastern has opened an express route for Chilean salmon to enter the Chinese market,” said an AquaChile representative at the signing ceremony. “Sales of salmon in China have grown steadily. We believe that our cooperation with China Eastern will become a new model for commercial and trade cooperation between Chile and China.”

In the last six years, China Eastern has provided robust services and support for the CIIE. On the platform dedicated to “buying from the world and benefiting the world,” China Eastern has not only become good friends with the exhibitors from the BRI partner countries, but also shared development opportunities with its global partners. Before each session of the CIIE, China Eastern provided airlifting and ground services for the exhibits and commodities from BRI partner countries to ensure they all land in Shanghai safe and sound. With the advancement of Belt and Road connectivity, flights between China and other countries have facilitated unimpeded trade and brought people closer together.

With its own logistics advantages, China Eastern built a network of cold-chain logistics for fresh food. Today, cherries harvested in South America’s Chile can be airlifted to Chinese consumers in a little more than 20 hours. In 2013, China Eastern operated two “cherry charter flights,” but today, it is operating nearly 200 such flights annually, making it the largest carrier of high-quality Chilean cherries bound for China.

This business model has been duplicated for cross-border transportation of other fresh agricultural and aquacultural products such as salmon, lobster, and durians from BRI partner countries, providing Chinese consumers higherquality fresh food from all over the world while sharing development opportunities with relevant countries and cooperation partners.

A Helping Hand

At the end of September 2023, a China Eastern cargo plane took off on charter flight CK5001 to transport emergency humanitarian supplies to Libya. The 16-hour flight passed over 17 countries and included layovers in two countries to transport more than 90 tons of humanitarian assistance supplies including tents, first aid kits, water purification equipment, and monitors to Benghazi in eastern Libya.

Charter flights like it are not exceptional. Over the years, China Eastern has shouldered big responsibilities to solidify cooperation with the BRI partner countries. It has scheduled many flights to perform important tasks such as emergency assistance for other countries and emergency evacuation of Chinese personnel in distress.

Last September, Hurricane Daniel swirled above the Mediterranean Sea at an extremely rare intensity, bringing strong winds and catastrophic flooding to many countries, especially Libya. Some analysts called the disaster in Libya one of the strongest storms in the world since the wind disaster in Myanmar in 2008. The Chinese government provided 30 million yuan (US$4.5 million) in emergency humanitarian assistance to Libya for disaster relief. China Eastern was authorized to conduct the charter flight and successfully completed every task.

In November 2014, China Eastern was authorized to operate a charter flight to transport Chinese medical expert teams to Ebola-affected regions of West Africa. The plane flew from Chongqing to Beijing to pick up all the medical expert teams. After a layover in Moscow, the plane flew to Monrovia, capital of Liberia, where a medical expert team disembarked with supplies. Then, the plane continued to fly to Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone, to rotate China’s first medical assistance team to the country. The plane then flew back to Beijing with the rotated medical assistance team. It took more than 40 hours to complete the journey, which was an arduous task, especially with the weak airport infrastructure and limited ground services in Monrovia and Freetown. With support from its outstanding personnel, China Eastern successfully accomplished the mission.

On March 9, 2020, a China Eastern cargo plane departed Shanghai Pudong Airport with 70 tons of disaster relief materials for Karachi, Pakistan. Again, it successfully accomplished the mission of transporting emergency assistance materials provided by the Chinese government for Pakistan to manage a locust disaster.

On March 12, 2020, China Eastern flew a charter flight to Rome, Italy, to transport the first COVID-19 response experts and relevant supplies from the Chinese government and the Red Cross Society of China. Then, China Eastern sent more such charter flights overseas. On March 18, 2021, a China Eastern cargo plane flew from Beijing to Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic. The plane flew for more than 17 hours as China’s first intercontinental charter flight to deliver COVID-19 vaccines.

In 2023, the civil aviation industry welcomed a steady and rapid recovery. China Eastern has seized every opportunity to accelerate resumption of international and regional flights.

So far, China Eastern has resumed flights to 28 countries, operating about 1,800 international and regional flights every week. Since the beginning of 2023, China Eastern has transported 3.22 million passengers from BRI partner countries in some 4.94 million seats. More than 80 percent of China Eastern’s international routes will have resumed by the end of 2023.

In 2024, China Eastern is planning to add more destinations to BRI partner countries. The “Silk Road in the Air” promoted by China Eastern will reach around the world to bring people of BRI partner countries even closer together.