Air China Cargo Expands Freight Flights to Prestwick
- Ayrshire Daily News
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
Yesterday Air China Cargo quietly expanded its freight flights to Prestwick yet again and now has daily services to Chengdu in Western China.
This is in addition to both Air China and China Southern airlines operating a total of 8 scheduled freight flights from Guangzhou in South East China, near Hong Kong.
By Aviation Editor Doug Maclean
On May 16th 2025 the first scheduled freight flights from Scotland to China started from Prestwick when China Southern Airlines arrived from Guangzhou in South East China. The route was flown using the huge Boeing 777 freighter with 110 tonne capacity.
On June 2nd 2025 one of the world’s biggest airlines Air China also started flights from Beijing to Prestwick with the return flight going direct to Guangzhou. They also use the highly efficient twin engined Boeing 777 freighter.
On November 22nd 2025 Air China started a second route connecting Chengdu in Western China with Prestwick. On this route they operate the slightly smaller 60 tonne load Airbus A330 freighter.
Yesterday Prestwick saw the arrival of the first of the increased schedule of 7 days a week service from Chengdu. The flight has a technical stop over in Stockholm but that will also allow trade to flow more easily between the UK and Sweden.
“Chengdu is one of the most important logistics hubs in western China, and a critical gateway into the southwestern regions of the country,” said Colin Dai, Regional Director, Asia, Glasgow Prestwick Airport.
“Daily connectivity enables Scottish exporters to move premium products such as salmon, seafood, and whisky into China while also supporting faster and more reliable imports into Scotland from one of China’s most dynamic manufacturing regions.”
Ayrshire Daily News understands that the inbound flights from China are operating at nearly 100% loads hence the increased number of services. Outbound cargo loads have been slower to rise because freight shipping companies have been using airports like Heathrow for decades and are slow to move operations.
However, we now have daily services from Chengdu and an astonishing 8 flights a week from Guangzhou. Prestwick airport has invested in dedicated cold storage facilities and it is said that the volume of salmon and other seafood being exported is growing well. Pharmaceuticals are also high value and low weight and Prestwick is now being used to reach the 1.4 billion people in China.
Air China Cargo set up a UK freight headquarters at Prestwick last year and it is understood that 14 staff are involved in sales and promotion of their services into and out of Prestwick. The rise in the number of flights will make using Prestwick even more attractive to import and export customers.
So far the freight boom has created 250 new jobs at Prestwick. Management and supervisory jobs have now been added to help the operation grow. The rise to 15 flights a week could see even more jobs being created.
Some of the staff who initially joined to work in Prestwick’s Terminal E, handling e commerce packages, have already been trained, and are working on, the complexity of general freight aircraft loading and unloading.
Prestwick joined Royal Mail and EVRi last month in celebrating 25 million parcels passing through its Terminal E facility in a remarkable 8 month period. Ayrshire Daily News had an in-depth conversation with Royal Mail last month. You can read the full story here https://bit.ly/4bwgWrO
