When Jade Cargo International, a joint venture between Lufthansa AG and China's Shenzhen Airlines begins operations in August after it receives its first freighter, a Boeing 747-400ERF, first flights to Amsterdam and Seoul will be launched from its cargo hub in Shenzhen signaling a ramp up to a venturesome carrier that intends “to fly anywhere and everywhere as fast as we can get the airplanes," Reto Rudolf Hunziker Executive Vice President sales & marketing told FT.
   Jade's second Boeing 747-400ERF is due for delivery in November and four others will enter service by January 2008.
   “I’ve got plans and we’ve got planes. Now we just have to get permission.”
Swiss-born Reto Rudolf Hunziker has taken off on the journey of a lifetime, as the Shenzhen International Airport-based JV all-cargo carrier begins service to Amsterdam next month.
   Reto who is well known for his years aboard the Swiss WorldCargo team cannot wait for tomorrow.
   “The opportunity to bring our total cargo product to the world market is exciting.
   “But I know the people and also the market so the transition to an all-cargo carrier is a good one.”
   The Jade Cargo International Company Ltd. was founded in October 2004 as a joint venture between Shenzhen Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo AG and DEG-Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH.
   The Company's headquarter is located in Shenzhen (SZX), a fast-growing industrial hub in Pearl River Delta of Guangdong province in China.
   In the next phase Jade will expand to meet further customer requirements in Europe as well as the United States.
   “We are thinking about Atlanta and some other U.S. gateways,” Reto said.
www.jadecargo.com or reto.hunziker@jadecargo.com.

     Boeing and FedEx have jointly initiated an in-service evaluation of active radio frequency identification (RFID) tags on some major airplane parts for a FedEx MD-10 Freighter.
     "RFID technology is designed to help airlines reduce ownership costs by managing repairs and tracking assets," said Kenneth Porad, RFID program manager for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
     "On-airplane use of active RFID technology is setting the stage for wireless sensor networks in the future."
     Similar to a bar code, RFID is an automated identification and data collection technology that uses radio frequency waves to transfer data between a reader and items that have RFID devices affixed. RFID offers significant advantages over other types of identification, specifically, no line-of-sight requirement and a dynamic read/write capability.
     These tags store data such as part and serial numbers, manufacturer codes, date of installation and country of origin.
     In addition, the tags can also store maintenance data so airlines can better understand the consumption of parts to ensure adequate inventories are on hand.
     "We're hoping RFID can improve parts visibility and parts lifecycle visibility," said James Ford, manager of engineering support for FedEx. "The aircraft records department keeps track of hundreds of parts, and if we could throw RFID tags on those parts, it would reduce the workload significantly."
     The tags have been installed in all zones of the airplane including the flight deck, avionics compartment, cargo compartment and wheel wells. The testing phase will also identify potential electromagnetic interference and detrimental environmental effects.