Harbin Taiping International Airport in Harbin, capital city of China’s northernmost Heilongjiang province, handled a record number of cargo flights to Russia in the first three quarters of this year, achieving growth despite the general negative effects of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
 
Statistics from Harbin airport showed that it had handled a total of 85 cargo flights to Russia as of the end of September.

A total of 142,000 items of cargo weighing 2,064 metric tons were transported, a year-on-year increase of 14.4 percent.
 
As one of the earliest cities in China to carry out trade and commerce with Russia, Harbin has a history of more than 100 years of business cooperation with its northern neighbor.
 
In recent years, against the background of the Chinese government's continuous promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative, Harbin has had extensive and in-depth dealings with Russia in many economic and trade fields, by virtue of its geographical location.

However, due to the coronavirus epidemic, international aviation capacity was tight and freight rates rose. The number of general flights from Harbin to Russia decreased significantly and the international logistics channel between Harbin and Russia was, at one stage, blocked.
 
Harbin airport has coordinated with carrier Russian Ural Airlines to open a cargo route instead of the previous passenger flight from Harbin to the city of Yekaterinburg. This has enabled the delivery of small packages and multiple batches of mail parcels, ensuring the stability of cargo transport capacity, freight rates and timetables.
 
The stable operation of Harbin's cross-border aviation logistical fast-track channel to Russia has provided Russian netizens with fast services.