China Southern has offloaded its cargo business as part of the Chinese government’s mixed ownership reforms.
According to an announcement from China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, the airline’s parent, China Southern Air Holding, set up a new cargo business with a registered capital of Y1bn to operate the airline’s freighter fleet, sell belly hold space and control cargo terminals and international logistics operations.
The new business was established on December 24 and comes as China looks to reform state-owned businesses through a mixed-ownership model, with the state a shareholder in companies without running them on a day-to-day basis.
According to its website, China Southern currently operates a freighter fleet of two Boeing 747-400 freighters and 12 B777Fs. In March last year, it announced plans to add two more production B777Fs. Over the first 11 months of last year, China Southern saw its cargo volumes improve by 0.3% year on year to 6.9 bn revenue freight tonne km.
Source : Various Agencies