WUHAN, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese delivery giant SF Express has signed a deal with the Hubei provincial government to build the first freight airport in Asia, local authorities said Thursday.
The airport, with an investment of 5 billion yuan (about 750 million U.S. dollars), will be built in the city of Ezhou.
Hubei Provincial Transport Investment Group, Shenzhen SF Taisen, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SF Express, and Shenzhen Nongyin Airport Investment will establish a joint venture to manage the project.
The project aims to meet the growing need of air express transit operations, while taking the traditional air cargo business into consideration.
The airport is expected to handle 2.45 million tonnes of cargo and about one million trips annually by 2025.
SF Express, founded in 1993 in Guangdong Province, is one of the largest private express logistics firms in China. It went public on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in February.
