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China Southern opens e-commerce online portal that generates air cargo

CHINA Southern Airways has opened a portal called "Southern Cross-Border Purchase", through which people can purchase goods from the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand according to China's World Civil Aviation Resource News (WCARN) service.

In January, the cargo department of Guangzhou-based airline began cooperating with "cross-border e-commerce operators and overseas producers and suppliers to create B2C procedures and develop transport options," WCARN said.

The e-commerce business also covers the cities of Los Angeles, Vancouver, New York, Auckland, Tokyo and Frankfurt.

Through the end of July this year, China Southern carried more than 1,500 tonnes of international packages, which is just 0.7 per cent of the 206,000 tonnes of international cargo the carrier shipped. However, these volumes are expected to rise now that the e-commerce platform has gone live, the carrier said.

The route became known as the "chairman's flight," becoming a bargaining tool between United and the Newark Liberty International Airport. The route was cancelled after Mr Samson resigned in early 2014, after news broke of a federal probe into the potential conflict of interest.

CNBC reported "shortly after the agency approved a new United hangar at Newark, as well as financial incentives for its construction, the airline moved forward with plans to resume service from Newark to Columbia."

The advocacy group Business Travel Coalition said that United also reportedly sought rail service to lower Manhattan and airport rent reduction as part of the port authority's US$8 billion capital improvement plan.

The other two employees that stepped down are Nene Foxhall, executive vice president for communications and government affairs, and Mark Anderson, senior vice-president for corporate and government affairs.