Drones, charter flights bring fresh fruit to consumers from Chongqing

As the harvest season is around the corner for Wushan crispy plums — a specialty fruit in Wushan county of Chongqing — consumers across China can enjoy the freshness of the fruit within 24 hours thanks to a combination of drones and chartered flights.

The new mode of transport involves using drones to carry plums from farms deep in the mountains to the local airport in the southwestern municipality, then flying them to Nanjing in eastern China's Jiangsu province by chartered flights, from where they are distributed to about 1,000 cities.

From July 2 to 20, China Post will allocate 15 Wushan-Nanjing China Postal Airlines chartered flights to carry about 225 metric tons of plums, according to the Chongqing Municipal Transportation Commission.