The USA and China have agreed to liberalise bilateral air cargo flights, opening the way for UPS,FedEx and other cargo carriers to increase flights between the two countries, and increase their
shares of the Chinese express market.Under a deal reached between US Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters and ChineseMinister of Civil Aviation Yang Yuanyuan on May 23, most restrictions on cargo flights will belifted by 2011 and the number of passenger flights will be doubled by 2012.
“Piece by piece, we are making it easier, cheaper, and more convenient to fly people and shipgoods between our two countries,” Secretary Peters said.
US cargo carriers will gain virtually unfettered access to Chinese markets by the lifting ofall government-set limits on the number of cargo flights and cargo carriers serving the twocountries by 2011, she said.
Daily passenger flights will be increased gradually over the next few years from the present10 daily to a total of 23 per day by 2012, thus also increasing capacity for express shipments. TheUSA and China plan to negotiate full bilateral liberalisation in 2010.
The main air cargo beneficiaries are seen as FedEx and UPS which will open major new hubs inGuangzhou and Shanghai respectively within the next few years. They already have agreements toincrease China flights over the next few years.
FedEx welcomed the US-China air services agreement, adding that it looked forward to a fullyliberalized air cargo regime in China in the future. A UPS spokeswoman told US media that the dealmeant China would become “an open playing field” after 2011, although there would be no immediateshort-term benefits for the company.
Other US-based cargo airlines such as Polar Air Cargo, in which DHL is buying a minoritystake, could also benefit from a liberalised Chinese aviation market by gaining new opportunitiesfor additional services and more destinations.
