Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) and SF Airlines (O3, Shenzhen) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which will see both airlines fly on the Abu Dhabi - Ezhou Huahu city pair, and allow Etihad to access cargo deck space on SF Airlines flights within China, while SF Airlines will also be able to tap into Etihad's network beyond Abu Dhabi.
Etihad, via its Etihad Cargo subsidiary, already operates eight cargo only roundtrips per week between Abu Dhabi and Shanghai Pudong. The airline now advises that it will begin flights to SF Airlines' green fields cargo hub at Ezhou Huahu in Hubei province using a B777-F. Etihad says the flights will commence on April 28, but it has not yet revealed the schedule and the ch-aviation schedules module is yet to display the flights. From Ezhou Huahu, SF Airlines will carry the cargo to 25 airports within China. SF Airlines will also provide last mile ground transportation services to delivery addresses in China.
"This MoU is the latest step by Etihad Cargo in expanding its operations in China and will see the carrier utilising SF Airlines’ Chinese network to transport cargo to other destinations in China via the Chinese carrier’s Hubei Province mega hub,” reads a statement on the MoU.
Developed in partnership with Hubei province local government authorities, SF Airlines has a 46% stake in in Hubei International Logistics Airport Co., Ltd., the operator of Ezhou Huahu Airport, which only opened in mid-2022. SF Airlines reportedly wants to develop a cargo handling facility there akin to what FedEx Express has at Memphis International, and funnel the majority of its cargo through there via a hub and spoke operation. By 2025, Ezhou Huahu Airport is expected to handle one million passengers per year and 2.45 million tonnes of cargo annually.
SF Airlines, the cargo arm of SF Holdings, operates the largest cargo aircraft fleet in China. According to ch-aviation PRO airlines data, it flies to 59 destinations in 14 countries using a fleet of 80 aircraft, including fourteen B737-300(F)s, three B737-400(F)s, two B747-400ERFs, one B747-400FSCD, forty-one B757-200(PCF)s, and nineteen B767-300ER(BCF)s. Currently, SF Airlines does not fly to Abu Dhabi on a scheduled basis.
