The first mail flight from Taiyuan to the United States, loaded with 841 pieces of mail from Shanxi, Fujian, and Zhejiang provinces, landed at the Chicago O'Hare International Airport on Sept 13. 

Taiyuan Airport Customs officials said that the mail headed to the United States, which consisted of 17 bags weighing 320 kilograms, are mainly domestic personal goods. 

This is the first time that mail has been directly processed for customs clearance in Shanxi province. In the past, as Taiyuan did not have a direct airmail route to the US,  the Taiyuan international mail exchange bureau had to clear the outbound parcels by post and then transfer them to Beijing. 

The Taiyuan-Chicago international direct airmail route allows Taiyuan to exchange international mail directly with the US Postal Service. International mail deliveries between Taiyuan and the US will be shortened by more than 2 days, and packages from Taiyuan can reach Chicago within 20 hours at their fastest. 

Since the Taiyuan international mail exchange bureau began operating in November 2018, Taiyuan Customs has worked closely with the Shanxi Branch of China Post Group and the Taiyuan Branch of China Eastern Air Logistics Co to speed up customs clearance.

From January to August, 1.3 million parcels were sent by Taiyuan Customs to the United States – an average of 10,000 per day. This played a significant role in increasing Shanxi's international trade and further opening the province up.