The all-cargo carrier operated by Raya Airlines of Malaysia departs from Nanning Wuxu International Airport for Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, on June 14. [Photo/China News Services]

An all-cargo carrier operated by Raya Airlines from Malaysia departed from Nanning Wuxu International Airport in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and flew to Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, on June 14, marking the opening of the all-cargo air route between Nanning and Kuala Lumpur.

The carrier was loaded with 38 metric tons of cargo such as clothes, shoes and suitcases for cross-border e-commerce.

The new air route is the third all-cargo air route to ASEAN countries after one to Vietnam and another one to Thailand, all operated by the Guangxi Airport Group.

It is expected that it will establish a new service platform for economic and trade development between Guangxi and ASEAN.

Currently, the Nanning Area of the China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone is able to handle 1 million pieces of international mail and e-commerce items every day on average, attracting a lot of cross-border companies, such as Southeast Asia's largest e-commerce platform Lazada, to settle there.

Officials said that more air cargo routes heading to ASEAN will be launched to boost the transformation of Nanning into a regional and ASEAN-facing international aviation hub.