BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The first Boeing 737-800 cargo plane refitted from an old passenger plane of Shandong Airlines Co., Ltd. was delivered in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province, on Wednesday, marking the company entering the air cargo market, reported Chinanews.com.
The company aims to build a passenger and cargo route network connecting Japan, Republic of Korea and Asia as a whole, with Jinan and Qingdao as the main hub bases.
The Boeing 737-800 cargo plane delivered this time is expected to be put into operation on September 26 and the company will soon open cargo air routes from Qingdao to Japan's Osaka and Nagoya, and later open more domestic and international cargo air routes, said Xu Chuanyu, chairman and president of Shandong Airlines.
Zhang Shubi, vice-president of China's customer support department of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said the completion and delivery of the first Boeing 737-800 cargo plane marked Shandong Airlines becoming the first major airline in China to operate this aircraft.
According to Boeing's forecast report, global air cargo volume will grow at an annual rate of 4.1 percent over the next 20 years, and the demand for all-cargo aircraft will increase by 80 percent from 2019.
Boeing continues to be confident in China's air cargo market in the future, based on the prospects of stable economic fundamentals and the potential for continued rapid growth in e-commerce and express delivery in China, Zhang added.
The cargo plane delivered can provide 141.4 cubic meters of cargo space in the main cargo compartment, and the cargo carrying capacity can reach about 25 tonnes, which is 6 to 7 times of the original bellyhold.
(Edited by Gao Jingyan with Xinhua Silk Road, gaojingyan@xinhua.org)
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