Since April this year, Glasgow Prestwick has become a major hub for inbound cargo flights from China with 3 Chinese airlines now flying cargo into Scotland on a weekly basis: Air China Cargo, China Southern Air Logistics and Beijing Capital Airlines. Now up to 16 flights a week, they are bringing in general cargo and e-commerce goods from right across Mainland China, including Zhengzhou, Guangzhou and Chengdu.

James was given a tour of their impressive in-house sorting facilities – which they’ve developed at break-neck speed, employing over 200 local staff in the process. Along with the fact that Border Force is already onsite for customs clearance, this enables the airport to process goods up to 2 days faster than competitor airports and get them out for delivery to their final destinations.

Cold chain storage facilities have recently also been added in order to enable the export of fresh goods, such as salmon, go back in the other direction. We look forward to working with the airport in exploring other sources of exports for filling the returning aircrafts to China.

  James with Sonia Rafferty – Human Resources Director, Glasgow Prestwick Airport