China Cargo Airlines Ltd will launch three weekly cargo flights between Shanghai and Dallas in the United States starting tomorrow, in a bid to cover more central and southern US destinations.

"The new flights will bank on the increasing air freight traffic on the route as many electronic product makers like Motorola Inc and Dell Inc are producing and exporting products in the Dallas area," said Feng Jin, marketing manager of China Cargo Airlines.

The airline will use MD-11 all-cargo planes, which are able to carry up to 60 tons of freight, on the route.

China Cargo Airlines, an air freight subsidiary under Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines Co Ltd, will operate 11 weekly flights linking China with six US destinations -- New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Dallas.

Industry insiders say more cargo flights will help meet the demand for air freight transport between the two countries, which has been rising due to growing Sino-US trade volume.

According to Feng, most of the cargoes transported from Shanghai to the United States used to be clothing but high-tech electronic products now account for more than 30 percent of the total volume.

Air freight traffic between China and United States has been growing more than 20 percent annually in the last three years.

(Shanghai Daily February 18, 2004)