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May 14, 2004, Taipei, Taiwan- To meet the strong global demand
for air cargo transportation, China Airlines took delivery of two
additional freighters this week, one self-owned B747-400F and one
MD-11F with one-year wet lease term from World Airways. After taking
delivery of the two additional freighters, CAL will add another
six weekly North America-bound all cargo flights to Los Angeles,
San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas and Seattle.
CAL took delivery of the 16th B747-400F (powered by CF6-80C2
engines) on May 14 and the MD-11F on May 15. Payloads of both
aircraft are 120 metric tons and 85 metric tons, respectively.
China Airlines’ plans to increase frequencies of freighters service
for North America from 30 to 36 flights per week, of which, the
Los Angeles service from 6 to 8 weekly flights, the San Francisco
from 5 to 6 weekly flights and the Seattle from 2 to 5 weekly
flights.
Currently, China Airlines operates the largest B747-400F fleet
in the world, and was ranked 7th in the world in terms of international
air cargo traffic in 2003. In June, CAL will introduce another
new B747-400F and will phase out one leased B747-400F each in
the coming July and August. By that time, China Airlines’ cargo
fleet will include 16 freighters. By the end of May, China Airlines
operates a fleet of 61 modern aircraft with average age of 6 years.
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