China Airlines becomes the No. 5 freight carrier

China Airlines (CAL, 華航), the nation's largest air carrier, was ranked fifth in the world in terms of air cargo volume last year, the company said in a statement released yesterday.

Quoting the latest statistics released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the company said its cargo transport volume exceeded 5.7 billion on a freight tonne-kilometer (FTK) basis last year, up 19.6 percent from the year-earlier level.

The world's top four air cargo carriers for last year were Korean Air, Lufthansa Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways, in that order.

The company has advanced two places since last year, when it was ranked seventh.

At present, CAL boasts the world's largest Boeing 747-400F freighter fleet, with 17 Boeing 747-400 all-cargo planes.

In August, the company will introduce a new Boeing 747-400F freighter and will take the delivery of two more freighters in 2006 and in 2007, respectively.

The carrier operates up to 76 all-cargo flights per week and its cargo service map has continued to expand.

Following the launch of cargo flight services to Milan and Prague last year, the air carrier added the Japanese city of Nagoya to its all-cargo flight destination in the first half of this year, and will inaugurate all-cargo flights to Vienna in the second half of this year. Its all-cargo fleet is expected to increase to 21 planes by 2007.