Deutsche Lufthansa AG, one of Europe’s largest airlines, has established a representative office in Guangzhou, its third office on the Chinese mainland.

The new office reflected the German airline’s decision to target the Pearl River Delta region, Thierry Antinori, Lufthansa’s vice executive director of marketing and sales department, said at the opening ceremony in the China Hotel on Wednesday.

Lufthansa held high prospects for the Pearl River Delta region and expected to launch the first non-stop direct flight between Munich and Guangzhou by the first quarter of 2005, Antinori said.

Lufthansa launched its first passenger flight linking the two cities Feb. 2, and added two weekly flights in April for a total of seven. Those flights had “satisfactory” profit records, he said.

The airline plans to operate three weekly all-cargo flights starting Nov. 3, using Boeing’s 747 all-cargo aircraft each capable of handling 150 tons of freight per flight.

Last week, Lufthansa’s cargo unit signed an agreement with Shenzhen Airlines and German development bank KfW’s DEG unit to set up a joint air cargo venture in Shenzhen.

The joint venture, Jade Cargo International, is the first domestic carrier with foreign participation to operate in the Chinese market.

The company, which will have its main hub in Shenzhen, plans to start operating in February next year and will initially serve destinations in China, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand with two Airbus A300-600 freighters. It will later expand its network outside Asia.

When talking about Jade Cargo, Antinori said Shenzhen and Guangzhou were two complementary destinations rather than competitors in the Chinese market.

The two cities and Hong Kong were three focuses of Lufthansa in South China, which were equally important for the airline’s business, Antinori said.

Lufthansa operates a total of 41 weekly flights linking Chinese and European cities, the largest number among all European air carriers.

In recent weeks, many global airlines have speeded up their expansion in the Chinese market to capitalize on surging air traffic growth in the country.

On Thursday, Korean Air, one of South Korea’s flag carriers, said it would open a call center in East China’s Qingdao City to provide reservation services and travel information.

The call center would serve seven days a week between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m., the airline said.

This follows reports that privately held Air Macao and Australian budget carrier Virgin Blue will start operating a low-cost airline serving the Chinese mainland by the middle of next year.

(Shenzhen Daily October 29, 2004)