British Airways World Cargo (BAWC) launched its first direct freight service last Saturday from Shanghai to London–the first cargo airline between China and Britain.

The airline will operate a twice-weekly service into and out of Shanghai. There will be cargo flight setting off from Pudong International Airport every Wednesday and Saturday for Heathrow Airport in London.

With China entering the WTO, its export volume is growing at amassive rate and demand for imports from the west is gathering pace, especially in Shanghai and the surrounding Yangtze Delta region, said Keith Pacher, Senior Vice President Commercial of BAWC. BAWC will transport a range of products between the two cities,including fresh fruit and vegetables, flowers, pharmaceuticals, a vast range of hi-tech products, spare parts of cars, ship and aircraft, textiles, fashion goods and even family pets. We'll be carrying everything from zips for jeans to chips for computers, said Pacher.

The new airline was made possible by the Air Services Agreement, reached in February 2004 between China's Civil Aviation Administration and the UK Department for Transport. The agreement enables BAWC to set up five additional international airlines in China, with two of them in Shanghai. The additional aircraft will be operated by a B747-200F that will complement BAWC's existing B747-400F freighter fleet and willeasily integrate into its overall schedule, noted Pacher.

The most challenging thing about operating an airline to Chinais how to avoid it becoming a single-way flight, said Pacher. BAWC is not worried about the flight from Shanghai, but the one coming back, as import goods from the UK are not so stable. However, Pacher said BAWC is quite confident of its future in China's market. Our commitment is to provide greater flexibility and capacity through an enlarged operation and underline our standing as a truly global network carrier, said Pacher.