With a healthy start from its foray into the cargo sector, China’s first private sector airline and first carrier to operate dedicated freighters, Tianjin-based OKAY Airways, is now expanding rapidly as itbuilds its passenger capacity.
The carrier’s cargo fortunes received a boost barely a year after its maiden flight when in April 2006 FedEx awarded a fi ve year contract to OKAY to handle all its domestic sourced cargo. Three B737 freighters are dedicated to this task, according to the carrier’s general manager for planning and development, Lu Chao.
From an initial 2,292 tonnes of cargo and mail in 2005, the volumes jumped to 6,402 tonnes the following year. Up to June 2007 OKAY has carried close to 15,000 tonnes of cargo and mail. All a far cry from when they started with only two Antonov Y 8s, which are now used for survey work.
OKAY’s cargo aircraft are based at Hangzhou’s Xiaoshan International Airport, and fly six nights per week, mostly overnight, to six cities, including: Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Tianjin, Qingdao and Xiamen. Belly holds on their passenger services are also utilised for freight and with a growing passenger fleet this means extra cargo capacity as well. It seems that the whole nation is forever on the move, Chinese airlines are increasing their fleets continually and there seems to be no problem filling those seats. Passenger load factors on some routes are in the high nineties. And new carriers continue to come into the market place, competing against the giants of Air China, China Southern and China Eastern.
OKAY Airways is a good example, now fly two Boeing 737-800s and one 737-500 for their passenger services operating from Tianjin to nine domestic destinations.
Further expansion of the fleet is planned with a signed letter of intent for 30 Xi’an built MA60s, a turboprop made by China’s Xi’an Aircraft Industrial Corporation, part of the China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I). Five will be operational in 2008 with another fi ve in 2009.
"These will fly regionally within China, with a first flight late in February to Chengdu. Presently we have achieved a 94 per cent load factor on this sector," said Lu. OKAY competes on this route with Sichuan Airlines and the domestic service of Air China.
OKAY’s passenger and freight returns have respectively doubled and tripled over the previous year. And figures for the airports of Tianjin and Chengdu show growth of 26 per cent and 17 per cent respectively, with only a small rise in aircraft movements. In early 2008 plans are in hand to lease a Gulf 450 or 550, Lu said. " We want to go into the corporate market by August, before the Olympic Games and in 2009 we want to go international with a B747 to North America and Europe".
When asked about where he would get the flight crews, considering the shortage in China, Lu said: "For the MA60s, China Southern Airlines will initially loan pilots to us, and then we hope to recruit from the Chinese Air Force, which fly the same model, and we are one of the few airlines in China to employ female pilots," he added.
