March 29, 2002, Taipei, Taiwan - China Airlines will inaugurate Taiwan's first all-cargo service to Manchester, United Kingdom, beginning from April 1,2002. Manchester will be China Airlines' 4th cargo destination in Europe. The Manchester service will schedule three flights weekly using Boeing 747-200 freighters.

The Manchester-bound flight will depart Taoyuan International Airport every Monday, Thursday and Saturday. The Taipei-bound flight will leave Manchester the same dates.

The United Kingdom is a mature air transport market with the ranking of 4th in terms of air traffic in the world. Its air traffic with Southeast Asia witnessed an annual growth of 6%. The United Kingdom is an important trading partner of Taiwan. It was the largest market in Europe for Taiwanese export products in 1999 and 2000. Manchester is not only an industrial city, but also a transportation hub in central England. It is expected that the new Manchester service will both expand the cargo network and increase the cargo traffic for China Airlines.

China Airlines also announced its summer schedule for cargo services recently. In the new schedule, it will operate 62 round-trip flights per week, with 27 trans-Pacific, 12 European and 23 regional ones.