Ever-expanding Chinese express freight operator SF Airlines has launched a new freighter route from Urumqi in China’s western Xinjiang province to Almaty.
The move supports China’s ‘Belt and Road’ initiative according to news agency Xinhau and the operator’s first direct freighter service direct to Kazakhstan.
SF Airlines will reportedly run the new link twice a week using a Boeing 757-200F with a payload of 28 tonnes and general cargo is set to make up much of the shipments.
In the first half of 2019, around 73,500 tonnes of cargo and mail were reportedly processed through Diwopu International Airport in Urumqi, up 12 per cent on the same period in 2018.
SF Airlines operates a fleet of 55 freighters, including one Boeing 747F, eight Boeing 767Fs, 29 Boeing 757Fs and 17 Boeing 737Fs but is reportedly looking to expand its widebody fleet to more than 100 by 2022.
