On his visit to China, the Minister for sustainable development and infrastructure François Bausch and Civil Aviation Administration of China executive Li Jiaxiang on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

"This is the next step to give Cargolux abilities to combine Zhengzhou with other cities in China, and also to combine Zhengzhou with the United States", said the minister.

Having flown to Zhengzhou since June last year, the company has previously not been able to continue flights from there to the United States, as this is normally not allowed for foreign aircraft. Bausch argues this newly obtained possibility means a lot for Cargolux's competitiveness for different markets in the context of an increasingly globalised world.

He further emphasised the importance of having strong business ties to China for Luxembourg and called the MOU "a win win situation for both sides", as Cargolux will contribute to the logistics sector in the Zhengzhou area. Initially flying there twice a week, this number increased to five by the end of 2014, which according to Bausch proves the importance of the Chinese market to the company's overall cargo volume.

"The Chinese economy will be the most important economy in the future, it's growing enormously. You must have an interest to be connected to the Chinese, and we are lucky in Luxembourg that we are so well connected", he said. " We now have the major Chinese banks (established) in Luxembourg, in general we have a very close business situation with the Chinese".

When Henan Civil Aviation Development (HCAD) in 2013 acquired 35 percent of the company's shares, a condition was the establishment of a joint venture freighter expected to be named Cargolux China. This will however be postponed as Cargolux and HCAD look for a third party willing to invest in the project

Trade Union Concerns Discarded

When asked whether any measures were taken so that cargo handlers at Zhengzhou airport would have the same working conditions as their Luxembourg counterparts, Bausch told wort.lu "No, that's not included because this is only a MOU concerning the traffic rights, so that's quite another debate".

Trade union fears that the company's increased presence in China could lead to the transfer of jobs were neglected by the minister.

"What we build up in China is a supplement to what already exists in Luxembourg, but for the company in general it's very good and that secures jobs in Luxembourg in the end. We will never transfer jobs from Luxembourg to China", he said.

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