Taiwan-based China Airlines Cargo has launched a three-weekly Boeing 747 Freighter charter service from Taipei Taoyuan International Airport to Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus, Ohio.
Columbus is China Airlines’ 11th freighter destination in the US and it said the route will expand the freight network and offer greater flexibility through connecting flights to other cities such as Chicago, Seattle and Anchorage.
The carrier said Rickenbacker has strong potential in eastern USA where freight volumes jumped by 70 per cent in 2017 compared to 2016 and freighter flights grew by around 20 per cent for the year.
China Airlines handed 1,462,000 tonnes of freight in 2017 which was 10.3 per cent growth over the previous year and ranked it 7th in the world.
The carrier was also one of the top 10 freight carriers in terms of total cargo volume at 5,741 million tonne-kilometres, an increase of 8.9 per cent over the previous year.
When combined with charter revenues from Asia and the Americas, total cargo revenues in the first seven months amounted to TWD 26.183 billion (US$849 million) an increase of 16 per cent over the same period from 2017 and 27 per cent of total group revenues.
The airline says it is continuing to develop potential markets in Southeast Asia and frequency of the Taipei-Hanoi route was increased in May while the capacity of the Ho Chi Minh City route was also expanded.
The China Airlines fleet consists of 88 passenger and cargo aircraft including 18 Boeing 747-400Fs. There are 93 freight destinations including 11 freight-only destinations including Luxembourg, Belgrade, Anchorage, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Seattle, Houston, Atlanta and Houston.
