WUHAN, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A scheduled air cargo route linking Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, and Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, was launched on Wednesday.

A cargo flight carrying 95 tonnes of nucleic acid testing kits, masks and other epidemic prevention materials took off from Wuhan's Tianhe International Airport for the African country at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday.

It is the first regular international air cargo route linking Wuhan and Africa. The round-trip service operates on Mondays and Thursdays.

Liu Ziqing, vice mayor of Wuhan, said Hubei is an important production area for masks and protective equipment, biopharmaceuticals, nucleic acid testing reagents and vaccines, and plays a pivotal role in the global supply chain to combat the COVID-19 epidemic.

"The opening of the air route provides an efficient logistics channel for the transportation of pharmaceutical products made in Hubei, and promotes the industrial development of Wuhan and areas around the province," Liu said.

The daily passenger throughput of commercial flights in Wuhan, which was badly hit by the epidemic, has exceeded 60,000, and the domestic passenger numbers have reached 90 percent of the same period last year.