Air China Cargo to establish Chongqing branch

Air China Cargo set for mixed ownership reform

China Southern to spin off cargo operations

China Southern Air Holding (CSAH) has incorporated a wholly-owned stand-alone cargo company with a registered capital of CNY1 billion yuan (USD143 million), China's National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System said in a December 24 approval.

In its original application to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) in October, CSAH said the new firm will assume the operation of China Southern Airlines' freighter fleet, which currently stands at two B747-400(FSCD)s and twelve B777-Fs, while at the same time selling bellyhold capacity on its sister carrier's passenger fleet. It will also oversee the running of China Southern's cargo terminals and international logistics operations.

China Southern is the last of China's Big Three state-owned airlines to spin off its cargo operations. The move is part of Beijing's ongoing mixed public/private ownership diversification drive aimed at improving the competitiveness and sustainability of largescale state-owned enterprises.

In 2017, China Eastern Airlines parent China Eastern Air Holding (CEA Holding) disposed of a 55% stake in its Eastern Air Logistics subsidiary to four privately-owned companies while...

China's SF Airlines gains US approval for cargo flights

SF Airlines (O3, Shenzhen) has received approval from the US Department for Transportation (DOT) to conduct scheduled and or charter freight flights between any point in China and any point in the US.

While SF Airlines is headquartered in Shenzhen, it also operates freight hubs in Hangzhou and Beijing Capital, and it was from Hangzhou that the carrier intended to launch a 3x weekly B747-400(F)s service to New York JFK, originally planned to commence in September. Plans for its initial schedule have yet to be announced.

A unit of Chinese logistics firm SF Express, SF Airlines joins other Chinese cargo carriers - Air China Cargo (CA, Beijing Capital), China Southern Airlines (CZ, Guangzhou), Suparna Airlines (Y8, Shanghai Hongqiao), and China Cargo Airlines (CK, Shanghai Hongqiao) - which are already flying from cities like Zhengzhou, Shanghai Pudong, Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Chengdu to the US, according to the ch-aviation schedules module.

Although its cargo network is...

Chinese airlines mull order for 100 B777-9s

Despite headwinds related to the trade war between the United States and China, as well as the ongoing B737 MAX grounding, Boeing (BOE, Chicago O'Hare) is in talks with unspecified Chinese airlines for a widebody order which could include 100 aircraft, Bloomberg has reported.

According to the news agency's sources, talks are ongoing but no order announcement is imminent. The focus of the negotiations is on the B777-9 type, although the smaller B777-8 is also of interest to the airlines. The carriers are also analysing B787 aircraft as an alternative to the B777X.

Chinese airlines will not place an order before receiving a green light from the government, which in turn is dependent on the political developments.

According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Boeing has not yet secured any firm orders for the B777X Family aircraft from mainland China, although Cathay Pacific signed up for twenty-one -9s. In terms of the current generation B777 units, there are now eighty-six aircraft active in China. Air China operates twenty-eight B777-300(ER)s,...