Italy’s Cargoitalia has started twice-weekly direct scheduled services between Shanghai Pudong airport and Milan, reported Cargonews Asia.

An MD11 freighter departs for Shanghai every Wednesday and Sunday, returning the following day. Frequency will increase to three-times-weekly from next month.

As anticipated, westbound traffic was heavier on the inaugural flights. “We expect some imbalance in traffic flows initially, but as Italian industry continues to recover and the market becomes more familiar with our new service, this should even out demand east-bound,” said Cargoitalia’s commercial director Roberto Gilardoni.