The Boeing Company and Jade Cargo International, the first cargo airline in China with foreign ownership, have completed an order for the carrier's purchase of six Boeing 747-400ER Freighters Thursday.

The airplanes, with a list price value of US$1.3 billion, are scheduled for delivery beginning in 2006 through January 2008. Jade Cargo, based in Shenzhen, plans to put the planes in operations from 2006.

"China is a key manufacturing center for the world, producing a number of high-value goods that are good candidates for air shipment," said Dr. Rudolf Tewes, general manager of Jade Cargo International.

Boeing projects in its World Air Cargo Forecast that the air cargo industry will grow at an average annual rate of 6.2 percent over the next 20 years, significantly higher than passenger traffic. The forecast also projects that China's domestic air cargo market is expected to grow annually at a rate of 10.6 percent, the world's highest growth rate.

Founded in October 2004, Jade Cargo International, the first joint venture airline of its kind in China, is owned by Shenzhen Airlines Company Limited, Lufthansa Cargo AG and DEG-Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH. Along with destinations within China, the airline plans to serve additional Asian, European and American destinations.

(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2005)