Malaysia Airlines Cargo plans to improve connections to Shanghai and other cities in China following the signing of a deal last October with Hainan Airlines Group. “We are working closely and hope to start a major initiative with [Hainan] by May 2010,” said managing director, Shahari Sulaiman.

The company aims to grow 10-15 per cent in 2010 by expanding its network through alliances and increasing its capacity.

Mainland Chinese airports handled 9.46m tonnes of cargo in 2009, an increase of 7 per cent over the previous year, said the Civil Aviation Administration of China.