Chinese air freight operator SF Airlines' fleet recently hit 60 aircraft with the delivery of a B757-200, a narrow-body, twinjet plane.
This is the second addition to SF Airlines' fleet this year after the delivery of its 33rd B757-200F in April.
“[The new aircraft] will provide core support for SF Airlines to continuously improve its air cargo capacity and participate in the construction of international logistics supply chains,” SF Airlines said.
“The commissioning of SF Airlines’ 60th all-cargo aircraft will further expand the operational scale of SF’s fleet, and contribute to the continuous optimisation of route structure and market service capabilities. Continuous improvement and accelerated matching of capacity resources during peak periods create important prerequisites,” it added.
The cargo airline has been beefing up its capacity since launching in 2009. By 2012, its fleet size composed of 10 planes and by 2016, the fleet size ballooned to 30 aircraft. A year after, SF Airlines planes reached 40 and in 2018, the carrier was already operating 50 planes.
SF Airlines has also expanded its operations internationally.
At end-2019, the Chinese cargo airline secured approval from the US Department for Transportation (DOT) to operate cargo freight flights between China and the United States.
The Shenzhen-based carrier, owned by SF Express Co., first applied for permission to operate 3x weekly cargo flights from its hub in Hangzhou to New York JFK, last May, originally scheduling the maiden flight by September.
In November 2019, it also launched its first scheduled service to Europe via Frankfurt Hahn and also added a second flight to India amid increasing e-commerce demand.
Since its first flight more than a decade ago, SF Airlines has developed an air freight network to more than 60 cities and regions while being based in Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and Beijing in China.
SF Airlines has the largest freighter fleet size in China with B737-300(F)s, B737-400(F)s, B747-400(F)s, B757-200(PF)s, and B767-300(F)s in its fleet.
