European all-cargo carrier Cargolux has moved on to the next stage of launching Cargolux China, a Zhengzhou-based freighter airline which looks set for take-off by the first quarter of 2017.
The Luxembourg-based carrier’s president and chief executive, Dirk Reich, said that the next few weeks will involve garnering approval from the new venture’s shareholders and “the shareholders of the shareholders”.
Once that is achieved, then begins the process of applying to the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) to obtain an Air Operator’s Certificate for Cargolux China, which will focus on transpacific and intra-Asian routes.
Cargolux’s $77m investment will give it a 35% share in the Chinese carrier, with Henan Civil Aviation Development and Investment Co (HNCA) taking a 49% stake, and with both Xin Gang Investment & Development Co of Zhengzhou Airport Comprehensive Economic Experimental Zone and the Henan Airport Group holding 8% each.
Said Reich: “There are many parallel processes taking place. The most important over the next few weeks and months will be to get the approvals of all shareholders. Cargolux approved both the agreement and the investment, and the same now needs to happen with all the Chinese shareholders, and with the authorities in China.”
These approvals will be worked on by a dedicated project team assembled after the Chinese New Year.
Reich does not expect any major hurdles in receiving shareholder approval: “It was always the intention to build up the airline, and the political and economic support was there when HNCA stepped into the ownership of Cargolux three years ago, and even before that.
“So I don't expect any surprises in general terms. There can always be small surprises in some of the detail when one is dealing with a major project like this.”
Both the shareholder and CAAC approvals should be completed in six months time, estimated Reich, at which point the sourcing of pilots and the initial phase fleet of three Boeing 747 freighters can begin.
Reich said that the setting up the airline, at the point when it is fully operational, will take “somewhere between 12 and 15 months, based on the work that we already did in the last few months”.
A full interview with Dirk Reich will be published in the next issue of Freighters World, due out in March.
