China Eastern expands cargo holdings with Great Wall

China Eastern Airlines has taken a 51% stake in Shanghai Pudong-based cargo carrier Great Wall Airlines. The stake, formerly held by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., reportedly was transferred at the behest of the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, which is the controlling shareholder of both CEA and CASTC. CEA said it will integrate Great Wall with its China Cargo Airlines subsidiary as well as with Shanghai Airlines Cargo. Great Wall was established in 2005 with CNY1.2 billion ($175.5 million) from CASTC subsidiary Beijing Aerospace Satellite Applications Corp., Singapore Airlines Cargo and Temasek Holdings subsidiary Dahlia Investments. It operates three 747-400Fs out of PVG.