Air China Cargo signed Charter Agreement on four B757 Freighters
Air China Cargo Co., Ltd and China Postal Airlines signed a cooperation agreement in which Air China Cargo agreed to, within two years, provide four B757-200F freighters to Postal Airlines in the form of charter successively for cargo transport service. The first freighter shall begin service in the second half of 2013. This important initiative strengthens the strategic partnership between China National Aviation Holding Company and China Postal and symbolizes that a strategic partnership in cargo charter flight was formally established between Air China Cargo and China Postal Airlines.
Air China Cargo was established on December, 12, 2003. It is the only cargo carrier flying with national flag. On March 18, 2011, Air China Limited completed a joint venture project with Cathay Pacific of Hong Kong using Air China Cargo as the platform. Up to March, 2013, Air China Cargo already owned eight B747-400 freighters, and meanwhile had ordered eight B777F freighters from the Boeing Company which will be delivered within the period from December 2013 to 2015 successively. In addition, Air China Cargo is the owner of B757 freighters and the sole operator of all passenger aircraft bellies of Air China Limited. Up to March, 2013, Air China Cargo had 284 air routes and 145 navigable points all over the world.
Founded in November 25, 1996, China Postal Airlines was the first airline company specializing express mails and cargo transportation in China. At present, China Post has eighteen B737 airplanes running under the \"overnight flight\" distribution mode. China Post has established an airline network which covers north, east, northeast, middle, south, southwest, northwest of China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, with Nanjing as major and Shanghai and Wuhan as support centers, providing reliable support for quick air transportation. China Postal Airlines has gradually become the core asset, value, and competitiveness of China Post EMS.
Good cooperation has been established between Air China Cargo and China Postal Airlines in mail transportation. Charted cargo airplane cooperation between the two parties meets the requirements of China National Aviation Holding Company and Air China Limited for profit improvement, increasing operation and management level of Air China Cargo. Through the cooperation, China Postal Airlines can increase transportation scale rapidly. Operation of four B757-200F cargo aircrafts will effectively reduce the gap of supply and demand between the current transportation capacity of China Postal Airlines and EMS market demand, ease contradictions between transportation capacity and transportation volume of when only B737 is used for transportation for some airlines, improves transportation capacity of China Postal Airlines, and enhances development of aviation, maintenance, and operation control teams.
As the Chinese poem goes \"A good rain comes just in time at the arrival of Spring\". The complementary and win-win cooperation between the two parties goes with the high speed development trend of China\'s express mail market. The cooperation will promote the development of express mail transportation, comprehensive competitiveness of both parties, and lay a good foundation for further cooperation of the two parties.
In recent years, China has enjoyed a rapid growth of express mail market, with proportion of express mail service increasing continuously. In 2012, market volume of express mail in China reached 105.5 billion Yuan, with 39.2% year-on-year income growth and 54.8% of business growth. It is estimated that in the coming 10 years, the express mail market will keep a growth rate of over 20%. Express mail transportation will be the major source of goods for airfreight, in particular domestic and regional cargo transportation.