A customs officer checks the duty-free goods on an airplane with the international flight electronic declaration system. [Photo/xmnn.cn]

The international flight electronic declaration system, the first one of its kind in China, was put into service in Xiamen airport on March 30, Xiamen Daily reported.

The system will save more than 80 percent of the time spent on declaration of international flights and offer a more convenient and qualified service to passengers and cross-border e-commerce companies.

Before the system going into operation, the airline must collect all the flight data, including aircrew, passenger list, duty-free goods and catering and then make a written declaration to the customs where one article must come with one piece of declaration form.

In the year of 2017 alone, Xiamen customs received more than 200,000 declaration forms, according to head of Xiamen customs.

The e-declaration system integrates all the forms into one and makes paperless declarations possible.

After the airlines enter all the declaration data into the system, what all customs officers need to do is wait at the corresponding departure gate and supervise the boarding.

Head of Xiamen customs said that besides saving time, the system also saves the labor. Now one person can easily handle the work previously done by three.