Passengers line up for boarding at the Xiaoshan International Airport in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province on January 8, 2023. Photo: VCG

The nation's overseas cargo business is reviving as a result of surging demand in China after the optimization of COVID-19 response measures, and domestic carriers are resuming more flight routes.

Hainan Meilan International Airport in South China's Hainan Province started all-cargo services to and from Incheon International Airport in South Korea on Sunday, the first fixed cargo flight starting from the Korean airport to Hainan this year.

The weekly round-trip cargo volume of the flight is expected to exceed 30 tons, and the main goods are likely to be e-commerce products, flowers and duty-free goods, according to CCTV on Sunday.

Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport received a flight carrying lobsters from Nagoya of Japan to Qingdao, Shandong Province on Thursday-- the first time for Qingdao to import lobsters from Japan. It received a shipment of lobsters from Canada in January.

A manger surnamed Fu told the Global Times that the lobsters will be distributed to the neighboring wholesale market and supermarkets on the night of arrival. "We will consider increasing the imports depending on market demand," he said. 

Due to the impact of the pandemic, Qingdao airport was not able to handle imports of special goods such as fresh food or live animals in large quantities for a long time. 

Since China optimized its COVID-19 response on January 8, the Qingdao airport has become increasingly busy, and more imported products have arrived via cargo transport, the airport said in information shared with the Global Times. 

The airport is not alone. On Saturday, a route to Moscow started its first trip from Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, carrying nearly 30 tons of cargo.

China Southern Airlines started an all-cargo flight from Guangzhou to London, with a stopover in Shanghai, on February 8, the first international all-cargo route connecting the eastern China and southern China hubs to the UK directly. 

Data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China showed that cargo transport in January recovered to 72.9 percent of the level in 2019, and the recovery was 5.7 percentage points faster than the previous month. 

Market watchers said that the recovery of air cargo services reflects rising external trade.

China's foreign trade hit a record high in 2022, as the country worked to better coordinate COVID response with economic and social development amid complex domestic and international situations, official data showed.

China's foreign trade has shown remarkable resilience in recent years and contributed to the nation's overall growth due to the improving trade structure, supply chain advantages and targeted policy support, analysts said.