August 9, Taipei – EVA Air took delivery of its third MD-11 freighter aircraft this year on August 1, 2005, leased from World Air. The previous two MD-11s were delivered in March and April.

All three aircraft are being deployed on routes to the US. From this month, EVA's cargo flights to America from Taiwan will be increased to 44 fights per week.

Prosperous cargo market to the US

Due to the upturn in world economies since last year, the cargo market continues to thrive. EVA Air's cargo destinations in the United States include Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. EVA's cargo load factor to the US averages over 90 per cent.

The delivery of the third MD-11freighter co-insides with the traditional cargo peak season starting from September during which time EVA's Tapei-Los Angeles cargo services will be increased from 11 to 13 per week.

Through its cooperation Shanghai Airlines, EVA Air can take advantage of the flourishing cargo market in Shanghai as well as the rest of China. Shanghai Airlines feeds EVA Air’s US cargo network from Shanghai to Macau with EVA routing the shipment from Macau to Taipei and onward to US. It is expected that EVA's US cargo revenue will exceed 60 per cent of its total cargo revenue this year.

Cultivation of European Markets

Due to EVA's early deployment in Europe, its dedicated cargo destinations include major cities such as Frankfurt, London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Vienna. The complete service network is closely integrated with key European carriers including British Airway, Lufthansa and Austria Air. EVA Air established its European Cargo Center in Brussels in 2003 in order to utilise Brussels' excellent geographic location and trucking systems to further develop its European cargo service. EVA Air will highlight its European Cargo Center’s functions and adopt a flexible approach to fleet rotation and seat control to further reduce operational costs and strengthen its competitiveness in the market.

Exploring developing markets

To take advantage of the newly developing BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) markets and in particular India’s blooming economy, EVA Air will route more of its return flights from Europe via Bombay or New Delhi instead of Dubai effective August 2005. EVA Air now has 11 weekly cargo flights to Europe, return flights from India to Taipei will be increased from five to seven.

 Cargo fleet

With the delivery of the third MD-11freighter, EVA's cargo fleet will total 17 including three B747-400 freighters and 14 MD-11 freighters. Nine 747-400 Combis add further cargo capacity. EVA Air operates 44 cargo flights to US, 11 to Europe and 33 to Asia. Its high capacity and extensive service network make EVA one of the top 10 cargo carriers in the world surveyed by IATA in 2004.