Cargo shipments from Wuhan Tianhe International Airport resume on Tuesday with a flight to Liege, Belgium. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Wuhan Tianhe International Airport resumed regular intercontinental cargo air routes on Tuesday with the first such flight since the airport resumed operations on April 8. The route is from Wuhan, Hubei province, to Liege Airport in Belgium and is operated by Hubei Foreign Airlines Service Co.

The air cargo route will run twice per week with one flight taking off every Wednesday and another every Saturday, local authorities said. More outbound cargo flights are expected to be added later.

The first inbound freight shipment from Liege landed at 8:30 am on Tuesday in Wuhan, and the first departure took off at 12:30 am on Wednesday, officials said.

The carrying capacity of import and export cargo on a freight flight is around 200 tons, with imported cargo consisting mainly of mechanical equipment and vehicle accessories.

Liege Airport, in eastern Belgium, has long been used for cargo. It is the largest cargo airport in Belgium.

The opening of the intercontinental route for cargo will allow abundant supplies to enter international supply chains from the Wuhan airport to Europe amid the pandemic. After the opening of the route, an airline freight capacity of 2, 000 tons per month will be provided for importers and exporters in Hubei, officials said.