The "Double Star" of China's Air Cargo Airports: Ezhou to the Left, Jiaxing to the Right

Ask AI · How will China’s dual freight hub reshape the global air cargo landscape?

21st Century Business Herald Reporter Zhang Xu Beijing Report

In the air freight industry, there is a classic “two-way pursuit” story: an obscure FedEx built a super transfer center at Memphis Airport in the United States, which not only helped it grow into the world’s leading express logistics integrator but also propelled Memphis Airport to become one of the world’s largest cargo hubs, creating the industry-famous “Memphis Myth.” This model has become a benchmark for many airports worldwide to emulate.

Now, China is also accelerating the development of its own specialized freight hubs. As the world’s fourth and Asia’s first dedicated freight airport, Ezhou Huahu Airport in Hubei is highly anticipated. In August 2024, the Civil Aviation Administration explicitly stated in the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Construction of International Aviation Hubs” to “advance the high-quality operation of Ezhou and other specialized air freight hubs.”

Subsequently, on December 26, 2025, with YTO Airlines flight YG9001 taking off, Jiaxing Nanhu Airport officially opened. Thus, China’s civil aviation industry has welcomed its second specialized freight hub after Ezhou Huahu Airport.

Against the backdrop of the Yangtze River Delta, which already has two major international airports—Pudong and Hongqiao—why is there a need to establish a dedicated freight airport in Jiaxing? How do Ezhou, dubbed the “Eastern Memphis,” and Jiaxing, located in the Yangtze River Delta, each bring about different economic impacts?

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In global trade, although air freight volume does not match sea or land transportation, it still plays an important role—cargo weight accounts for less than 1% of total volume, but cargo value accounts for 35%. For this reason, building efficient specialized freight hubs has become a key part of enhancing economic competitiveness.

Ezhou Huahu Airport is known as the “Eastern Memphis,” completed and operational since July 2022. Centered on Huahu International Airport, a 1.5-hour flight radius can reach national urban clusters such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, covering 80% of the national population and 90% of the economic output. As of March 2026, Huahu Airport has opened 114 cargo routes, ranking first nationwide.

According to data released by the Civil Aviation Administration, in 2025, Ezhou Huahu Airport’s air cargo throughput reached 1.1457 million tons, ranking fifth nationwide. Its growth rate leads all large airports, increasing from 245k tons in 2023 to 1.1457 million tons in 2025, demonstrating remarkable rapid growth.

Similar to the Memphis model, SF Express has designated Ezhou Airport as its core hub.

SF Express’s transfer center at Ezhou Huahu Airport covers an area of 750k square meters, with a 52-kilometer fully automated sorting line inside. During peak hours, it can process 280k parcels per hour. Additionally, 14 customs smart inspection lines work with fully automated sorting systems to ensure efficient clearance and dispatch of international express shipments.

Late at night, Ezhou Huahu International Airport is brightly lit, with cargo planes landing on east and west runways in succession. Loading workers unload cargo and transport it to the sorting area, where systems automatically sort and load the cargo onto planes… Norwegian salmon, Shandong peonies, and Chilean cherries are sorted here and quickly reach consumers’ tables nationwide.

SF Express told 21st Century Business Herald that since September 2023, it has operated a sorting and transfer center at Ezhou freight hub. In 2025, SF’s all-cargo aircraft will take off and land at Ezhou more than 30k times, an 11% increase year-on-year. In 2025, international freight throughput at Ezhou freight hub grew by 85% compared to 2024. The hub is building a globally leading “hub-and-spoke air network + multimodal transport + smart logistics” system, strongly supporting industrial upgrading.

Relying on Ezhou freight hub, Ezhou is accelerating the development of air-anchored preferred industries. Fortune 500 companies like Apple, Schneider, and XCMG have established regional centers in Ezhou, setting up processing, spare parts, maintenance, and return centers. SF Express has obtained the AEO advanced certification within the Ezhou freight hub, significantly improving import-export clearance efficiency, making it an important gateway connecting to global markets.

In terms of high-end elements, Peking University’s Artificial Intelligence Research Institute has been established there. In industry, on December 28, 2025, the emerging coffee brand “Huahu Coffee” was officially launched globally in Ezhou.

The birth of Huahu Coffee directly benefits from Huahu International Airport’s logistics network of “overnight nationwide, next-day global.” Green coffee beans can arrive in Ezhou within 48 hours from production areas, and roasted products can be transported via multimodal transport—air, rail, water, land—achieving 24-hour coverage of Central China and 72-hour nationwide reach. Additionally, Ezhou’s “air-rail-water-road” three-dimensional transportation and cost advantages, along with policies like bonded logistics centers and cross-border e-commerce pilot zones, lay a solid foundation for building a “buy globally, sell nationally” industrial closed loop.

On December 26, 2025, Jiaxing Nanhu Airport officially opened, becoming China’s second dedicated freight airport.

In 2025, Shanghai Pudong International Airport’s cargo throughput first exceeded 4 million tons, reaching 4.0919 million tons, an 8.3% increase year-on-year, ranking second globally after Hong Kong International Airport’s 5.07 million tons. Facing such a strong neighbor, the emergence of Nanhu Airport might seem somewhat “misaligned.”

Is that really the case? The reality is more complex. Civil aviation expert and professor at South China Business School, Guo Jia, told 21st Century Business Herald that while Pudong Airport has strong cargo capacity, it is essentially a comprehensive hub with passenger transport as the main focus. As cargo demand continues to grow, its capacity is nearing a bottleneck. Establishing a dedicated freight airport in Jiaxing effectively reallocates resources toward cargo, achieving passenger-freight separation.

“Moreover, Jiaxing is located in Zhejiang, close to Yiwu and other small commodity distribution centers and cross-border e-commerce sources, with natural industrial and geographical advantages. Building a dedicated cargo airport helps improve regional logistics efficiency, forming a passenger-cargo division of labor between Hangzhou and Jiaxing, similar to the relationship between Wuhan and Ezhou,” Guo Jia explained.

Jiaxing Nanhu Airport’s positioning is balanced between passenger and cargo, with a focus on freight, and is currently demonstrating a strong “industrial magnetism.”

In February this year, the National Port Office officially approved Jiaxing Nanhu Airport’s temporary opening, allowing international freight operations. SF Express plans to deploy eight all-cargo aircraft here this year, opening 11 international freight routes to Budapest, Seoul, and other destinations. From the core Yangtze River Delta region, goods can reach the world within hours.

Currently, Jiaxing’s Airport Economic Zone has signed 39 airport-related projects with a total investment of over 13 billion yuan. In Xiushui Guanggu in Jiaxing, Simo Technology workers are busy fulfilling orders for global 3C giants, planning to leverage the airport to push products to Singapore and Germany. In Xiuzhou District, Jiaxing, relying on airport advantages, has not only attracted Fortune 500 projects but also fostered local cross-border e-commerce platforms like “MaoShanPai.” The previously sea-dependent sweater industry can now rely on air transport for “small orders, quick response,” directly reaching overseas markets.

Beyond freight, passenger transport also facilitates travel for residents and businesses. In March, Jiaxing Nanhu Airport welcomed its first summer-autumn season. During this season, seven new passenger routes were added, including Beijing Capital, Guiyang, Shenyang, Nanning, Lanzhou, Changsha, and Urumqi, increasing the total to 17 routes, with weekly flights reaching 208.

As of March 27, since opening, Jiaxing Nanhu Airport’s average passenger load factor has reached 84%, with passenger throughput surpassing 164k, ranking first among new airports nationwide; passenger routes increased to 17, also ranking first among new airports. The influx of people drives passenger traffic, creating a virtuous cycle.

Both Ezhou and Jiaxing airports are dedicated freight airports, but their scales differ.

Ezhou Airport plans for 330,000 tons of cargo throughput in 2030 and 908,000 tons in 2050. Jiaxing Nanhu Airport’s 2030 plan is 1.1 million tons annually, with a long-term goal of 2.46 million tons. By comparison, in 2025, only six airports in China exceeded 1 million tons of cargo throughput. Although their planned scales differ significantly, both are important freight hubs.

Regarding this difference, Guo Jia explained, “Ezhou Airport, modeled after Memphis, aims for a much higher annual cargo throughput, targeting a national-level transfer center. Jiaxing’s scale is limited by airspace and ground facilities.”

Ezhou Airport is modeled after Memphis, but there remains a significant gap in the number of cargo aircraft operated by SF Express and FedEx. FedEx currently operates about 698 cargo aircraft, while SF Airlines will have about 90 all-cargo planes by March 2025.

However, Memphis Airport has recently experienced a decline. According to IATA data, Memphis’ throughput has fallen for five consecutive years from 2020 to 2025: 4.61 million tons in 2020 (world’s top), down to 4.48 million in 2021, 4.04 million in 2022, 3.88 million in 2023, 3.75 million in 2024, and only 2.97 million tons in 2025, dropping to sixth place globally, while Hong Kong and Pudong remain in the top two.

As important national transfer centers, Ezhou and Jiaxing airports have more optimistic prospects, with future cargo throughput expected to grow rapidly.

In addition, the division of passenger and cargo functions among nearby hubs is noteworthy. Guo Jia pointed out that although Pudong’s cargo throughput exceeded 4 million tons in 2025, ranking second globally, cargo is dispersed across Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, with combined volumes far surpassing Pudong. This precisely indicates that the Yangtze River Delta’s single hub is nearing capacity, and since Pudong also needs to serve as an international passenger hub, there is an urgent need for Jiaxing and other dedicated freight airports to share the load, forming a multi-point, coordinated development pattern.

Ezhou Airport’s development further impacts the entire middle Yangtze River city cluster. Zeng Gang, director of the Urban Development Research Institute at East China Normal University, told 21st Century Business Herald that Wuhan Tianhe Airport and Ezhou Huahu Airport form a unique “dual passenger-cargo hub” pattern in inland China. This dual hub breaks the traditional disadvantages of inland areas in the global logistics system. It transforms the middle Yangtze River city cluster from an “inland hinterland of coastal openness” into an “inland frontier of opening,” greatly enhancing the efficiency and competitiveness of central and western regions in global resource allocation.

Among them, Ezhou Huahu Airport, as a freight hub, combined with Wuhan Tianhe Airport’s passenger network, provides both “fast freight” and “fast people” guarantees. This is crucial for manufacturing industries relying on global supply chains, such as chips, laser equipment, high-end machinery, and automobiles, significantly reducing regional logistics costs and inventory times, attracting key global industry chain segments to settle here.

“The dual hubs also effectively catalyze modern services and innovative economies. Convenient global connectivity attracts high-end talent, capital, information, and technology, providing a solid foundation for developing modern finance, technological R&D, business consulting, cross-border e-commerce, digital economy, and exhibition tourism services,” Zeng Gang said.