After the flight arrives in Xiamen, the staff members unload the cargo. [Photo/Ethiopian Airlines]

Xiamen and Sao Paulo, Brazil, despite being 20,000 kilometers apart, have never been closer together, thanks to a cross-border air corridor linking the two cities. According to Xiamen Customs, as of Aug 28, the number of export parcels shipped via China's first dedicated air route for cross-border e-commerce between BRICS cities has exceeded 40 million, marking a significant testament to the growing economic and trade exchanges between China and Brazil.

Since its launch in Xiamen on Feb 10, 2023, the BRICS route has operated a total of 580 round-trip flights, handling 39,200 metric tons of import and export cargo and 40.2 million cross-border e-commerce export parcels.

The BRICS route not only delivers a vast amount of "Made in China" products deep into South America, but also brings back a rich variety of fresh regional specialties such as prunes and salmon.

Leveraging Xiamen's strategic location along the southeastern coast, these fresh imports are cleared by Xiamen customs and distributed not only locally but also to markets in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, and across northeastern China.

Supporting the Xiamen-Sao Paulo BRICS route is the continuous deepening of smart customs reforms. Relying on the Smart Customs initiative and backed by the Aviation Logistics Public Information Platform, Xiamen Airport Customs has adopted the innovative "Single Window + Air Logistics" model, which eliminates six types of paper documents and improves enterprises' cargo handling efficiency by 90 percent.