Thai Airways International has deployed two new Boeing 777 freighters to boost its cargo business, which until now has taken a backseat to passenger services. The 777-200Fs operate two flights a week on the Bangkok-Frankfurt route and once a week on the Bangkok-Hong Kong-Amsterdam-Bangkok sector. Each aircraft has a 102-ton capacity. Both are operated by Southern Air, a Connecticut-based cargo carrier, under an aircraft blocked-space agreement struck last year when the Thai airline agreed to acquire all of the capacity of the aircraft for the next two years.

Low-cost carriers in Asia continue to expand their networks and fleets, aiming to grab an even bigger chunk of the regional air travel market. Jetstar in Singapore says that with the arrival of its 10th aircraft it will launch a Singapore-Taipei-Osaka service on July 5, the first multi-sector route for the carrier, which also has a sister airline in Australia. The Jetstar family has been flying daily between Singapore and Taipei since December 2004 and to Osaka from Australia since March 2007.

Air China is firmly in control of Shenzhen Airlines with the appointment of a new president of the smaller carrier, whose base in Guangdong province offers a chance to take market share from China Southern. Shenzhen Airlines is now code sharing on 13 routes with Air China and from April 27 will do so on 10 routes with Shandong Airlines, another subsidiary of the major carrier.