This summer, Yinchuan in Ningxia has faced persistent high temperatures, with tarmac surface temperatures at the airport approaching 60°C, posing a major challenge to preserving fresh agricultural products during transport. Ningxia, a core production area for western specialty agriculture, is home to high-quality products like Tan sheep, cool-climate vegetables, and seasonal fruits. Air logistics, with its unique advantages of speed, high timeliness, broad coverage, and stable supply chains, has become a key channel for breaking down geographical barriers to fresh produce sales and opening a route for western agricultural products to leave the province.

Facing the heat challenge, Yinchuan Airport has implemented a precise strategy. Leveraging its mature aviation logistics support system, it has initiated a seamless "cold chain relay" across the entire process, strictly controlling temperature in the "last 100 meters" of fresh produce transport. This safeguards the unique flavors of the Ningxia region during the scorching heat, ensuring the large-scale and efficient external sale of local agricultural products. The core competitiveness of air logistics lies in rapid cross-regional transport, and stable temperature control throughout the journey is vital for fresh produce, especially for high-quality products from remote western areas to overcome regional limitations. In this race against heat and time, Yinchuan Airport has established a standardized temperature-controlled closed-loop system to fortify the quality of fresh produce transport.

This year, Yinchuan Airport has introduced new specialized refrigerated vehicles for fresh goods and upgraded its freight hardware. This has enabled fully enclosed, temperature-controlled transport for fresh products from the airport cold storage, through dedicated vehicle transfer on the tarmac, to the aircraft cabin, completely avoiding exposure to high outdoor temperatures and temperature fluctuations. By building a seamless, three-in-one temperature-controlled closed loop linking cold storage, refrigerated vehicles, and aircraft cabins, the airport strictly adheres to temperature control standards for air transport of fresh goods. It maintains suitable storage temperatures throughout the journey, effectively solving the industry problem of spoilage and high loss rates for fresh produce in hot weather. Compared to road or rail transport, air cargo cold chain significantly reduces transit time and handling, preserving the freshness and quality of Ningxia's Tan sheep, cool-climate vegetables, and seasonal fruits to their best state for the national market.

The vast western region, with its long land transport distances and time constraints, highlights the efficiency of air logistics. It has become a core competitive advantage for Ningxia, and even the western region's specialty agricultural products, to capture the national fresh produce market. To maximize the speed advantage of air transport and minimize the time fresh goods spend at the airport, Yinchuan Airport has established a dedicated "green channel" for perishable agricultural products, with customized handling procedures. Leveraging the comprehensive coverage of airline networks and rapid cross-regional connectivity, it has broken the time and space barriers for Ningxia's specialty agricultural product sales, significantly boosting market circulation efficiency and helping premium fresh produce from the region reach dining tables across China quickly.

To fully unlock the value of air cargo capacity, Yinchuan Airport has built a dual safety assurance system from both hardware and personnel perspectives, balancing fresh produce quality with high-temperature operational safety. On the hardware front, the airport's freight support department has established a routine inspection mechanism. Before daily operations, it conducts comprehensive, detailed checks on specialized refrigerated vehicles, cold storage cooling systems, and temperature monitoring equipment. It verifies cooling performance, operational parameters, and sealing integrity, performing timely maintenance and adjustments to ensure all cold chain equipment operates stably, safeguarding the safety of fresh produce storage and transport with robust facilities. To address the high-temperature summer work environment, the airport has implemented staggered work schedules, shift rotations, and heat protection measures. It scientifically allocates personnel, avoiding concentrated work during peak midday heat. While strictly controlling quality during the entire process of fresh goods entering storage, being transferred, and loaded onto aircraft, it also fully implements heatstroke prevention measures for frontline workers, ensuring efficient and stable output of the aviation cold chain.

As a key aviation cargo hub in western China, Yinchuan Airport, with its continuously upgraded cold chain logistics capabilities and完善的航空运力网络, is amplifying its role as a logistics hub. It is becoming a vital engine driving the upgrade of Ningxia's specialty agriculture, supporting rural revitalization in the west, and enhancing regional economic quality and efficiency. According to statistics, since the start of this summer travel season, Yinchuan Airport has safely handled over 300 tons of fresh goods outbound, including Ningxia Tan sheep, cool-climate vegetables, and specialty fruits. This stable air cold chain output has effectively reduced transport losses for local agricultural products, enhanced their market competitiveness, and helped Ningxia's specialty agricultural brands expand beyond the northwest to the whole country. Furthermore, Ningxia Airport Co., Ltd., part of the Western Airport Group, is continuously improving its cargo service support system. This includes upgrading cold chain hardware, optimizing freight handling procedures, and expanding air cargo routes and capacity. By creating a safer, more efficient, and more professional air export channel for specialty agricultural products, it is continuously bridging the production and sales chain for western specialty products, driving the industrialization, branding, and marketization of Ningxia's specialty agriculture.