The company has joined forces with other relevant parties to build the so-called "Silk Road by Air", facilitating the arrival of fresh products from both Chile and other countries.

China's share of Chilean agricultural and forestry exports rose from 13 percent in 2013 to 30 percent in 2023, a trend in which the airline China Eastern Airlines has been an important protagonist, as was learned at the ninth edition of the Chile Week promotional event, which opened on Monday in Beijing.

According to data from the National Customs Service of Chile, cited by the Undersecretary of Agriculture of that country, Ignacia Fernández Gatica, Last year, Chile exported agricultural and forestry products valued at 5.444 billion dollars to the Chinese market. Cherries stand out in this total, amounting to 2.221 billion dollars.

Two weeks before the opening of the event, on November 18, the inaugural flight of China Eastern's charter service for the new Chilean cherry ripening season took off from Arturo Merino Benítez Airport in Santiago, the capital, bound for the eastern Chinese metropolis of Shanghai, with a stopover in Los Angeles and a total flight time of around 25 hoursThis is how 76 tons of Chilean cherries arrived in the Asian country.

The first shipment of the coveted red fruits of the 2024-2025 season arrived in China on October 12, by sea. According to estimates by the Cherry Committee of the Fruits of Chile sector brand, Fresh cherry exports this season will grow by almost 60 percent compared to the previous season, with China once again being the main destination.

In 2013, when China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, China Eastern chartered two planes specifically to transport more than 200 tons of fresh Chilean cherries and blueberries, also from Santiago to Shanghai, but with a flight time of about 30 hours.

A year later, during the 2014 cherry season, the airline used a freighter of its own for the first time to cover the 19.300-kilometer route, officially launching the «fruit charter flight» Ten years of exploring the Chilean and South American markets in the field of fresh food logistics.

Over the past decade, China Eastern has joined other relevant parties to build the so-called «Silk Road by Air», facilitating the arrival of fresh products from both Chile and other South American countries. According to company sources, the number of cherry charter flights operated by its aircraft increased from two per year at the beginning to more than 100 today.

On the other hand, the variety of agricultural and forestry products that Chile exports to China has increased from just cherries and blueberries to fresh and dried plums, grapes, nectarines, pork products and salmon, among others. Over the past ten years, China Eastern aircraft have brought more than 50.000 tons of these products to China, with a total value of more than 1.000 billion dollars.

In April last year, the company launched a charter route to transport salmon between Santiago and Chengdu, in southwest China. In June this year, China Eastern put into service a new regular cargo route between Miami, the United States, and the Chinese city of Ezhou.

Through intermodal transport cooperation with partners such as LATAM Airlines, more high-quality Chilean agricultural products reach the tables of Chinese consumers more quickly and safely.

Although 90 percent of Chilean cherries are sold to China each year, Most of those transported by air are handled by China EasternIn addition to flights from its main base in Shanghai, the Santiago-Chengdu/Ezhou route has also begun regular scheduled operations.

In the 2024-2025 South American cherry season, China Eastern Airlines plans to import approximately 12.000 tons of Chilean cherries, of which 5.500 will be transported by air and the remaining 6.500 by sea.

The 2024 edition of Chile Week, an annual event organized and coordinated by ProChile, the state arm for promoting Chilean goods and services abroad, will run until December 7, and will also reach the cities of Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Chengdu, with activities that include business meetings, seminars and visits, among others, and with the aim of deepening commercial and economic ties between both countries.