China Central Longhao Airlines (Zhengzhou) has rebranded as Air Central (China) (GI, Zhengzhou) and added its first B747-400FSCD, Cargo Facts has reported.

B-2461 (msn 32804) was reactivated on April 1, following more than 2.5 years of storage at Guangzhou airport. The 20.6-year-old freighter was previously operated by China Southern Airlines since new in 2002, the ch-aviation fleets history module shows. On April 1, it flew from Guangzhou to Urumqi, and has since been deployed on test flights to Harbin and back to Guangzhou.

The aircraft will become Air Central's first widebody. The ch-aviation fleets module shows that the airline currently operates five B737-300(F)s, one B737-400(F), and five B737-800(BCF)s.

Other operators of B747 freighters in China include Air China Cargo (three B747-400FSCDs), China Cargo Airlines (two B747-400ERFs), SF Airlines (two B747-400ERFs and one -400FSCD), and Suparna Airlines (one B747-400ERF and two B747-400(BDSF)s, the only converted B747s in China).