Air China, Cathay plan new cargo carrier

Air China, Cathay plan new cargo carrier China's second-largest airline Tuesday announced plans to form a new cargo airline in partnership with Cathay Pacific Airways.
   Beijing-based Air China and Hong Kong-based Cathay will base the unnamed new carrier on the existing China Cargo Airlines that flies out of Beijing.
   Scheduled to launch in June, the new carrier will hub in Shanghai.
   Air China, which holds a 51 percent stake in China Cargo Airlines, will retain an identical stake in the new carrier.
   Other stakeholders in China Cargo Airlines include Hong Kong conglomerate Citic Pacific and airport operator Beijing Capital Airport Group, having stakes of 25 percent and 21 percent, respectively. Air China is in talks with the two firms on options to take over the firms' holdings in China Cargo Airlines.
   While Cathay will hold a 49 percent stake in the new carrier, details were not forthcoming on what the firm's contribution would actually be. Speculation is that Cathay will gain its stake by purchasing new aircraft to bolster the new carrier's fleet.
   The partnership is part of Air China's ongoing efforts to build Shanghai as a hub. The Air China plan also calls for, according to ATW Online, expanding international services and integrating a subsidiary from nearby Zhejiang Province into a new company employing about 1,000 people to control the firm's business in the Yangtze Delta region. The firm also intends to establish a cargo station at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai capable of processing 1.2 millions tons of cargo annually.