bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Laura He

Two Boeing 747-400 Freighters were sold on Tuesday on Taobao, the online shopping platform owned by Alibaba, for a combined 322.8 million yuan (US$49 million), reflecting the first time such jets were sold via online auction in China, and possibly the first-ever globally at online auction.
The sale was concluded after six failed attempts at offline private auctions organised by the seller – a state court – in the past few years.
SF Express, China’s largest private courier, bought the jets from the Intermediate People’s Court in the southern city of Shenzhen, which seized them after Jade Cargo International filed for bankruptcy in 2013.
Three Boeing 747-400s had been put up for sale on Taobao’s judicial auction arm from Monday to Tuesday. One of the jets parked at the Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport went unsold, with a starting bid of 122.6 million yuan.
Taobao is an online shopping platform similar to eBay.
SF Express raises US$1.2b to buy aeroplanes and boost technologies
The other two planes bought by SF Express are housed at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport. They had an opening bid of 133.8 million yuan and 135 million yuan respectively, and both drew two participants during the auction process.
The jets were eventually gavelled off at 160.8 million yuan and 162 million yuan, up 20 per cent from the starting bids.
According to rules on Taobao’s auction site, bidders were required to make security deposits of 6.1 million yuan, 6.7 million yuan, and 6.8 million yuan for the respective jets before the auction.

The winning bidder is obliged to complete the purchase by sending full payment within 15 working days.
SF Express confirmed to the Post it was the buyer of the two jets, without elaborating further.
The Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court has been trying to find buyers for the three planes since 2015, listing them with an initial combined price of 1.32 billion yuan. The previous six offline auctions fell through.
In September, the court put them up on Taobao’s auction arm, with a combined minimum bid of 391 million yuan, down 70 per cent from the initial level.

Last year, Concord Aerospace, a Florida-based aerospace company, tried to sell a Boeing 747 jumbo on eBay, with a starting bid of US$300,000. The aircraft’s four jet engines had been removed and its electrical components had been stripped. Nonetheless, the plane didn’t sell.
Demand for Boeing 747s, once known as the “Queen of the Skies”, has been fading. Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are planning to phase out their remaining 747 wide-bodies by the end of this year.
Still, Boeing has recently raised its estimate for mainland Chinese aircraft demand in the next 20 years, forecasting total demand of 7,240 airlines valued at nearly US$1.1 trillion.
“China’s fleet size is expected to grow at a pace well above the world average, and almost 20 per cent of global new aeroplane demand will be from airlines based in China,” Boeing said in its China Current Market Outlook in September.
SF Express, one of China’s largest logistics service providers controlled by billionaire Wang Wei, said earlier this year that it will spend 2.7 billion yuan to buy aeroplanes and recruit pilots.
Its subsidiary, SF Airlines, has a fleet of 40 freighters on Chinese domestic and regional routes. So far they operate with an all-Boeing fleet.
With additional reporting by Celia Chen
 
Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post


Chinese scientists say new imaging will protect healthy tissue in breast cancer surgery

Humanoid robots hold promise for China but remain far off, says HKU’s robotics head

Chinese scientists hack encryption in quantum computer experiment: paper

Chinese scientists extract lithium from seawater, holding promise for new energy tech

Future tech

China’s biggest private courier buys two Boeing 747-400 freighters, via Alibaba’s Taobao e-shopping site

Courier SF Express emerged as the winning bidder in what’s believed to be first major aviation sale of its kind by online auction in China

Jade Cargo International's Boeing 747 on auction. Photo: TechNode

***ONE TIME USE ONLY*** Wang Wei, chairman and founder of SF Express, speaks during the listing ceremony of the company on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in Shenzhen city, south China's Guangdong province, 24 February 2017. Every trade has its master - in this case its billionaire - no matter how humble it is. A self-made entrepreneur who once dashed between cities to deliver goods for clients has built an impressive courier empire and is now one of China's richest men. Wang Wei, the boss of SF Express, has seen his personal worth rocketing to a whopping £22.5 billion (189.9 billion yuan) since his company went public last week. This means the 46-year-old has become the third richest man in China, after property tycoon Wang Jianlin, worth £25.6 billion, and e-commerce mogul Jack Ma, worth £23.5 billion. SF Express completed its back-door listing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Friday. The listing has made SF Express the biggest Chinese courier company by market capitalisation, surpassin

Boeing 747s auctioned on Alibaba’s Taobao online shopping platform. Photo: Taobao

'I have a dream' - Taobao uses Martin Luther King's likeness to promote sales

King's original "I have a dream" speech referenced the leader's desire to see a world free of racial discrimination and violence. Photo: SCMP Pictures

A red "lai see" envelope appears in King's hand. Photo: SCMP Pictures

"Plant one red envelope, harvest even more red envelopes.” Photo: SCMP Pictures

'Just a stunt': No bids for US$16.4m Italian castle on Taobao

A photo of the castle taken from the property's Taobao auction page. Photo: SCMP Pictures

An Italian villa offered on Alibaba's Taobao e-commerce site did not attract any bidders. Photo: EPA

'Taobao Villages' reaping rich e-commerce harvest

Photo: Bloomberg

Alibaba aims to get more US products on Taobao, Tmall via June trade fair in Detroit

The move is a step in fulfilling Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s January pledge to help create a million jobs in the US.

Workers prepare boxes for packaging goods for delivery at a sorting center in Lianyungang, in China's Jiangsu province during the Singles Day online shopping festival on November 11, 2016. Chinese shoppers unleashed a record deluge of cash online for Singles Day on November 11, Alibaba said. Photo: AFP

Alibaba celebrates 1.2 million users on Taobao in Hong Kong

Alibaba wants to drive more HK shoppers online. Photo: Reuters

Business

Companies

Markets

China Business

Tech

Enterprises

Big Tech

Innovation

Courier SF Express emerged as the winning bidder in what’s believed to be first major aviation sale of its kind by online auction in China


Technology

Boeing

Alibaba