Chinese airports are stepping up offering of fifth freedom rights to airlines ahead of open skies in the cargo market in 2011. Analysts said China's civil aviation officials have been having discussions recently with authorities in the United States, European Union, Russia, Japan, ASEAN and South Korea on operating charter flights by freighter aircraft to western, central and northeastern regions of China.

Fifth freedoms, also known as beyond rights, give an airline the right to carry passengers and cargo from one's own country to a second country, and from that country to a third country.

Last month, Kunming, capital of Yunnan province in the northeast, opened its market further by offering fifth freedom rights to airlines wishing to operate freighters on the routes to Rangoon, Burma, and Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Nanjing, located in the downstream Yangtze River drainage basin and capital of Jiangsu province, was one of the first cities to offer fifth freedom rights in 2003.

Transmile of Malaysia gained the Nanjing fifth freedom rights in 2005 and started flights from Kuala Lumpur to Cincinnati, US, via Shanghai, and upgraded chartered freighter services from Kuala Lumpur to Malmo in Sweden to a regular twice-a-week route earlier this year. By the end of this month, Transmile woulld have operated more than 260 freighters via Nanjing.

Transmile recently launched flights to Luik of Belgium from Kuala Lumpur and is scheduled to run 26 chartered freighters on the route by the end of this year.

Kunming's offering of fifth freedom flights followed China's agreement with ASEAN nations to relax market access rules for ASEAN carriers.

Shuangliu Airport in Chengdu could be the next beneficiary of fifth freedom rights. 3E Airlines, based in Las Vegas, is awaiting approval to fly from Los Angeles to Frankfurt via Chengdu and back. Once operational, it will be the first direct air route from Chengdu to the US.

Chengdu first experimented with fifth freedom in March when a B747-400 freighter landed in Shuangliu Airport from Seoul, carrying goods from Tokyo, Chicago, Sydney and Singapore. It is in discussions with a Japanese airline for chartered freighter flights.

In the southeast, the airport at Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province, has won support from China's civil aviation authority to make use of fifth freedom rights to boost its international air routes. Xiamen, in the same province, was among the first group to be granted such rights in 2003. The objective was to encourage airlines from Taiwan, across Fujian, to operate chartered freighters.

The civil aviation authority has given priority to freighter routes in the gradual opening of open skies. After offering fifth freedom flight rights in May 2003, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) in 2006 opened all flight rights to Hong Kong in March; allowed South Korea to use fifth freedom rights in eight central and western cities in summer; experimented with the service at the Tianhe airport in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province in central China this month; and is to offer fifith freedom rights to Pudong International Airport in Shanghai by the year-end.

The partial opening of the skies was welcomed by international airline operators but displeased Chinese airlines who feared losing business to foreign airlines. But China Air Transportation Association (CATA) said that opening up the market was essential despite the competition. "Even if you don't fly out, the competitors will squeeze in," said a CATA source.

Opening of the skies is beneficial to the Chinese economy, said Professor Liu Weimin of the Civil Aviation Management Institute of China. It could also help Chinese airports become regional hubs instead of losing out to airports in neighbouring countries.

Feng Fei, senior researcher with the State Council Development and Research Centre, agreed. "China's lack of aviation hubs are largely attributed to curbs on flight rights," Feng said. The offering of fifth freedom services can raise cargo turnover and promote foreign trade, particularly in the western region, he added.

"Chinese airlines have to look into detailed services and consolidate their resources in making use of available flight rights," said the CATA source.

Some of China's airlines have been making good use of their flight rights. For example, Air China Cargo in September opened its first fifth freedom route after long-time research and preparation, flying from Shanghai and Beijing to Manchester in the UK via Copenhagen, Denmark. The airline operates a B747-400 freighter three times a week on the route.

Air China Cargo offers unified rates and capacity in London and Manchester and also moves bellyhold cargo in passenger planes to London. The Air China freighters from London carry electrical appliances to Shanghai, drugs to Beijing and car parts to Nanjing, while the bellyhold space in passenger aircraft is utilised by postal parcels and express deliveries. The traffic from China to the UK is mainly consumer products.

"The route is promising," said Huang Fang of Air China Cargo. He said Air China Cargo in July set up a separate department to specifically market this route. It also handles other freighter routes and ground services.

China Southern, meanwhile, has been trying its luck in the Middle East and Africa, by operating a freighter from Pudong, Shanghai to Dubai via Bangkok and from Beijing to Lagos, Nigeria, via Dubai.

Other airlines are also making attempts to boost their freighter service overseas. As Hainan's airports in Haikou and Sanya both enjoy fifth freedom rights, Spring Airlines has set up its base in Sanya and Shanghai Airlines in Haikou, in anticipation of using the fifth freedom rights.