EVA Air has announced the addition of an MD-11 freighter to its cargo fleet, providing an additional uplift of 1000 tons per month between the US and Taiwan from Mar 6, 2004.

        Deployed primarily on US cargo routes, the MD-11 freighter has been wet-leased from World Airways as part of a one-year agreement.

　　KW Nieh, Senior Vice President, Public Relations, EVA Air commented: "2003 saw an upturn in business resulting from the recovery of US, European and South East Asian economies. Demand for high tech goods in the United States and Europe, in particular, has caused our global cargo operations to thrive.

　　"We are confident that the cargo market will remain strong and flourish as the Mainland China and Indian economies continue to develop apace."

　　The new aircraft will allow the airline to increase Taipei-Los Angeles frequencies from 9 to 11 per week as well as alter the existing Taipei-Atlanta-Chicago round trips to point-to-point Taipei-Atlanta and Taipei-Chicago flights.

　　The agreement with World Airways brings the total EVA MD-11 cargo fleet to 12. The carrier also plans to convert a further passenger MD-11 into a freighter during 2004. In addition, EVA's cargo fleet comprises four B747-400 freighters and nine B747-400 combi aircraft.

　　During 2003 EVA Air achieved its long-term goal of a 50:50 distribution of cargo to passenger revenue.