With an upturn in traffic, Jade Cargo has launched direct flights to Europe from Sichuan's capital Chengdu, a city with traditional strengths in food production and machinery manufacturing, which stole a march on other cities when it established a hi-tech industrial zone in 1991.
The Chengdu Hi-Tech Zone now ranks fourth among China's 54 hi-tech zones and boasts of more than 16,000 companies, including 40 Fortune 500 companies such as Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Siemens, Nokia, Ericsson, Corning, Sony, Sumitomo and Toyota. China's top hi-tech companies, such as China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom, are also tenants at the zone.
After making a deep ongoing analysis of the situation, Jade Cargo, a Lufthansa and Shenzhen Airlines joint venture, sees the Chengdu move as a good opportunity for Jade as it is the only all-cargo carrier operating scheduled non-stop flights to Europe from Chengdu.
Jade Cargo has deployed a wide-body Boeing 747-400ERF on the Europe run. The carrier operates two flights a week from Chengdu to Vienna, Amsterdam, Dubai and back, which will be bumped up to three a week next month. The aircraft has a capacity of 112 to 115 tonnes and in some instances 127 tonnes, depending on the product. Jade Cargo's main exports from Chengdu are hi-tech products and machinery.
Cargonews Asia
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