China will allow foreign air carriers to pick up passengers and cargo on the Chinese mainland en route to other destinations from late May, reported Tuesday's China Daily.
Singapore Cargo Airline has become the first foreign air carrier with authority to exercise "fifth freedom rights" between Singapore and Chicago via Xiamen in Fujian province and Nanjing inJiangsu province, said sources with the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC).
The long-awaited release was scheduled for April 1 but was postponed to May 22 due to uncertainties over the on-going war in Iraq, the paper said.
There will be three weekly flights via Xiamen and Nanjing underthe new rights scheme in the near future, sources with CAAC.
Freedom rights, specified in the Chicago international aviation convention, are the privileges a government grants international carriers registered in other countries. Such rights have become more common as airlines seek to expand their network of destinations and become more global in scope.
(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2003)
