Great Wall Airlines

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Great Wall Airlines Company Limited is a cargo airline based in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. Launched on 22 June 2006 [1], it was co-owned by China Great Wall Industry Corporation (51%), Singapore Airlines Cargo (25%), and Dahlia Investments (24%), a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings based in Singapore [2].

1 Code Data
2 History
3 Fleet
4 References

[edit] Code Data

IATA Code: IJ
ICAO Code: GWL
Callsign: GREAT WALL

[edit] History

The airline launched its first flight from Shanghai to Amsterdam on 1 June 2006 with an initial frequency of six flights per week, becoming the first local-foreign partnership airline to take flight in China [3]. Flights to Singapore, Chennai and Mumbai were planned to be launched next [4].

It has suspended operations on 18 August 2006. The United States filed sanctions among the airlines due to a suspicious activity for supplying Iran with nuclear supplies. All aircraft were returned to Singapore Airlines Cargo.^{[citation needed]}

On 13th December 2006, it was announced that sanctions against Great Wall Airlines have been lifted, and that the airline would resume service in February 2007. The airline will resume scheduled services to Amsterdam (six times weekly), Incheon (six times weekly) and Mumbai/Chennai (three times weekly).

[edit] Fleet

As of March 2007 the Great Wall Airlines fleet includes ^[1] :

2 Boeing 747-400F

The airline operates two Boeing 747-400 freighters, on lease from Singapore Airlines Cargo. The aircraft were returned to Singapore Airlines Cargo and operated in a SIA Cargo/Great Wall hybrid livery when operations were suspended. Upon resumption of flight operations, the aircraft returned to Shanghai in full Great Wall Airlines livery.^{[citation needed]}