East Midlands Airport welcomes another Chinese cargo airline

A Boeing 747-400 freighter jet operated by Central China Longhao Airlines arrived at East Midlands Airport on Monday, adding to the roster of cargo airlines now using the airport as a gateway to the United Kingdom market.

Central China Longhao Airlines will operate twice-weekly flights to East Midlands from Zhengzhou International Airport, the airport said in a news release.

China Central Longhao Airlines was restructured and established by Henan Civil Aviation Development & Investment Group in 2019. As a state-owned airline and the main base airline in Henan Province, it played a key role in the construction of Zhengzhou international air cargo hub, and operates its fleet throughout Asia and into Europe.

China Central Longhao, which also calls itself Air Central, operates several smaller cargo jets within China, as well as two Boeing 747-400s. It says it plans to soon expand the fleet. International service currently connects Zhengzhou with Liege, Belgium; and Bengaluru, Chennai and Delhi, India. The U.S. Department of Transportation in March granted Air Central authority to operate flights to Chicago O’Hare and Los Angeles International Airport, but no operations to those destinations have started yet, according to flight tracking service Flightradar24.

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