Subject to approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, Eastern will operate twice weekly flights between Chicago O’Hare and Hong Kong International Airport as well as Chicago O’Hare to Ho Chi Minh City services.
Eastern’s B777 Express Freighter is designed specifically for e-commerce, with its design converting the main deck cabin of the aircraft into a cargo aircraft.
When the service is launched, it will join Flexport’s tech-enabled global airfreight, container freight station and trucking network.
Shipments will be managed via the Flexport Platform, with customers benefiting from end-to-end control and visibility.
Steve Harfst, President and CEO of Eastern Air Holdings says: “There is an urgent demand to develop new solutions that alleviate the constricted global cargo market. Our partnership with Flexport, combining the large volume of our B777 Express Freighter with Flexport's leading edge e-commerce technology and logistics platform, will fill that unmet need and add new capacity to the global cargo market.”
Neel Jones Shah, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Airfreight at Flexport says: “Flexport client demand for airfreight has roughly doubled while global capacity has remained approximately 10% below pre-pandemic levels. Our strategic agreement with Eastern will provide critical net-new capacity to the market and bring our two innovative companies together to help meet demand and fuel growth.”