Why fly, when you can take it easy travelling by train?

Aircraft from Britain, France and Italy leaving China by train on May 6, 2017. [Photo: Xinhua/Feng Dapeng]

Aircraft from Britain, France and Italy have returned home to Europe by train after attending the Zhengzhou Airshow in central China's Henan Province, which concluded on May 1.

In all, eight light airplanes were taken apart and placed in containers before being loaded onto the China-Europe train on Saturday in Zhengzhou, heading for Hamburg in Germany.

The train journey will take about 17 days to complete, one month less than by sea. Most of the planes will take to the skies again in airshows in Europe from the end of May.

Members of France's elite aerobatic team disassemble their light planes and put them into containers. [Photo: Xinhua/Feng Dapeng]

Adam Shaw, a pilot with France's acrobatic team The Captens, said that the journey by train was safer and faster. The planes had arrived in Zhengzhou by a China-Europe train in April.

Members of a British aerobatic display team take their aircraft apart and place them in containers. [Photo: Xinhua/Feng Dapeng]

Another five planes from Lithuania and Australia are due to embark on the train journey in the next few days.

Currently, there are over 50 China-Europe train services, with 28 destination cities in 11 countries.