The 19th China Air Cargo Summit was held in Shanghai

       On November 25-26, 2025, the 19th China Air Cargo Summit, known as the "barometer of the air cargo industry", was grandly opened at the Sheraton Shanghai Waigaoqiao Hotel. The summit, with the core theme of "Resilience Reconstruction, Digital Empowerment, and Ecological Symbiosis," gathered over 400 industry professionals from more than 30 countries and regions around the world, covering representatives from 56 mainstream international and domestic airlines, over 200 logistics companies, cross-border e-commerce platforms, and regulatory agencies, to engage in in-depth dialogue on key issues in the field of air cargo transportation, and to build consensus and provide direction for the development of the global air logistics industry. During the summit, the Civil Aviation Administration of China released cargo data from January to October, providing data support for industry discussions.

       As a communication platform for the global influence of China's air cargo industry, this summit has set up multiple segments such as CEO roundtable forums, regional hub roadshows, and practical pre conference training. Among them, the two training sessions of "Market Intelligence Analysis" and "Data Interconnection Applications" focus on industry pain points in advance, providing practical solutions for participants. The summit not only attracted high-level executives from domestic leading companies such as Air China, China Eastern Airlines Logistics, and SF Express, but also welcomed representatives from international logistics giants such as FedEx and Lufthansa Cargo. New forces such as Xiangye Logistics Group also participated, demonstrating a strong atmosphere of collaborative development across the entire industry chain.

       Dr. Li Zongling, Director of the Air Logistics Working Committee of the China Air Transport Association, pointed out in his speech that global air cargo has been upgraded from a trade auxiliary channel to a strategic artery, and China's cross-border e-commerce cargo volume accounts for more than 60% of the total air cargo volume. The explosive growth of exports of manufacturing products such as electric vehicles and industrial robots is accelerating the evolution of the source structure towards "high-precision and cutting-edge". The attendees generally believe that the improvement of supply chain resilience needs to rely on the dual path of "network diversification+model innovation". In the first half of 2025, more than 80% of China's 117 new international freight routes will be concentrated in the Asia Europe region. The rise of emerging nodes such as Ezhou Huahu Airport and Xinjiang hub is effectively dispersing single market risks and building a more flexible global route network.

       'Digital transformation' has become a high-frequency term discussed at the summit, with multiple companies sharing practical cases that are about to be implemented or have just been put into operation. The relevant person in charge of China Eastern Airlines Logistics disclosed on site that its global smart cargo terminal located in Pudong, Shanghai will be officially put into operation on November 27th. The terminal will use RFID second level coding, AI assisted security check and other technologies to reduce human intervention in the cargo displacement process by nearly 50% after operation; The CT intelligent review system at Shanghai Pudong Airport has achieved instant inspection and release of dangerous goods, while the "direct transfer within the import cargo area" mode implemented at Chengdu Airport has saved about 5 hours for single ticket access. These practices have confirmed the industry consensus that only by breaking down data barriers and promoting national mutual recognition of testing reports can full chain visualization and efficient collaboration be achieved.

       The summit focused on the safety and efficiency balance of special cargo transportation in the sub field of "cold chain and dangerous goods transportation". SF Airlines shared a breakthrough achievement in advance on the forum - on the early morning of November 26th, its domestic commercial air transport flight carrying ternary power lithium batteries safely arrived in Shenzhen from Ezhou Huahu Airport. With the help of an AI system to monitor 12 core parameters in real time, a full chain safety system was built, and the transportation efficiency was improved by nearly 80% compared to land transportation. In terms of cold chain transportation, the recent opening of the Shanghai Santiago direct air route has sparked heated discussions. This route has compressed the logistics time of fresh products such as cherries to within 24 hours. Experts at the meeting proposed that in the future, the cold chain standard system needs to be further improved to promote the deep integration of temperature control technology and air transportation.

       During the summit, multiple cooperation intentions were reached, which became important achievements. Xiangye Logistics Group highlighted the construction achievements of Xiamen Xiang'an International Airport cargo area on site, and reached preliminary consensus with multiple international airlines on capacity deployment, overseas cargo station cooperation, etc; Through roadshows, regional hubs such as Zhengzhou Airport and Wuxi Shuofang Airport have signed memorandums of cooperation with overseas nodes such as Ostend Airport in Belgium, planning to deepen innovation in models such as "air rail intermodal transportation" and "international transit". Dr. Li Zongling called for the industry to jointly promote the establishment of a cross-border e-commerce dangerous goods classification management whitelist, build a central local coordinated support mechanism, and ultimately achieve the upgrade from "global purchasing" to "global instant sharing".

      The convening of this summit coincides with a critical period of rapid growth in China's air cargo industry. According to data released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China on November 25th, the national air cargo and mail transportation volume from January to October 2025 reached 8.312 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 13.9%. Among them, the international route cargo volume was 3.568 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 21.7%. The multiple consensuses and cooperation intentions reached at the summit will further promote the transformation of air cargo from a "transportation tool" to an "industry chain engine", providing solid support for China's manufacturing going global and global trade facilitation.