Another Flight to South Asia!  SF Airlines Launches the International Air Cargo Route between Changsha and Dacca

On August 5, 2019, a fully loaded B757-200 cargo aircraft of SF Airlines Co., Ltd. (hereafter referred to as "SF Airlines") successfully flew between Changsha and Dacca, capital of Bangladesh, symbolizing the official launch of the international air cargo route between Changsha and Dacca. This is the fourth international air route successfully launched by SF Airlines in 2019, and the third direct freight route between China and Dacca operated by SF Airlines. Targeting mainly at general cargo and fresh products, the new route will help stimulate the trading between Central China and Bangladesh and facilitate the in-depth development of the country's "Belt and Road" Initiative once it is operated on a regular basis.

Secure Operation Through Intensive Drills

Since its incorporation, SF Airlines always sticks to the service concept of "being centered on customer demands" to improve its air route operating capability and customer service quality. In recent years, SF Airlines has successively launched direct freight routes from Kunming and Nanning to Dacca, which offers the company relatively abundant operating experience in Dacca. Right before the official launch of the new route, each department of SF Airlines conducted an emergency drill based on existing air route operation experience on August 2. The drill covered multiple operating scenarios such as manual operation, mechanical failure and special weather conditions and aimed at enhancing the emergency responsiveness and teamwork capability of the team to ensure smooth operation of the new route between Changsha and Dacca.

In addition to that, SF Airlines also optimized the operation of multiple flights, put in place specific indexes regarding temperature control, aircraft maintenance, ground service and air materials, and endeavored to implement the principle of "safety first" so as to lay a solid foundation for successful launch of the new route.

Facilitate Development by Air Network Expansion

Since its maiden flight in 2009, SF Airlines has developed an air freight network to more than 60 cities and regions while being based in Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Beijing. The company has also expanded its service coverage from China to a majority of East Asia, Central Asia and South Asia, providing a competitive air support to in-depth development of SF's international businesses.

In 2015, SF Airlines operated its first flight between Chengdu and Kathmandu as an act of earthquake relief, which was also its first flight to South Asia. After that, the company successfully launched its international air routes of "Kunming=Dacca" and "Nanning=Dacca" to serve the development of local air logistics industry and the cross-border business of foreign trade enterprises.  In 2019, SF Airlines started to use the largest aircraft model in service B747-400ERF to undertake the flight between Shenzhen and Chennai. This further enhances the overall operation capacity of South Asia air routes and helps support SF's building of its global air freight supply chain network.

By the end of 2018, the People's Government of Hunan Province officially published the China (Changsha) Comprehensive Cross-Border E-Commerce Pilot Zone Implementation Plan, which stated that Changsha would be built into a national cross-border e-commerce gateway city and a regional distribution hub for cross-border e-commerce businesses in Central West China.  Improving logistics efficiency was also set out as a key concern in the implementation plan. The launch of Changsha-Dacca air route will further increase the flight frequency of air freight routes between Changsha and "Belt and Road" cities, and improve the air logistics efficiency between Changsha and Bangladesh. Meanwhile, it will also help Changsha Huanghua International Airport exploit the gateway advantage and facilitates in-depth development of local cross-border e-commerce enterprises and their import and export businesses.

    Established in 2009, SF Airlines is a cargo airline company with the largest fleet size in China and 55 cargo aircraft in service now. The company dedicates itself to providing customers with safe and highly efficient air shipping services and customized air logistics solutions. The launch of the international freight route from Changsha to Dacca represents an important milestone in SF Airlines' course of internationalization, and also a key initiative taken by SF Airlines in serving the social and economic development. In future, SF Airlines will continuously expand its airline network and improve its service quality to become the most trustworthy air transportation partner of customers.