FEDERAL Express Corp (FedEx) has strengthened its Asian network by purchasing an air route between the United States and China from Evergreen International Airlines.
Terms of the sale, which makes FedEx the only US-based express carrier with direct flights to China, were not disclosed.
The transfer of the route authority is subject to US Government approval.
FedEx said it will lease two Boeing 747s from Evergreen to provide scheduled services to Beijing and Shanghai. Guangzhou will be added later.
'China is a pivotal market to our long-term expansion plans in Asia,' said Frederick Smith, chief executive officer of the FedEx group.
'Asia will be one of the great engines of growth in the next century and . . . China will be at the heart of much of that growth.' Meanwhile, air cargo capacity on China-Japan routes is expected to treble following agreement reached in Beijing this month to increase services between the two countries.
It was agreed to allow three new airlines - Nippon Cargo Airlines, Japan Air System (JAS) and China Southern Airlines - to operate between the two countries.