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.