SF Airlines
SF Airlines

SF Airlines' full name is SF Airlines Co., Ltd. It was founded in 2009 as China's first privately owned express cargo airline and now has the largest cargo fleet in the country, headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, with its website at sf-airlines.com. It is the freighter operator of the SF Group, focused on air express and tailored air logistics, the airborne core of SF's time-definite network and key infrastructure for the express network. Its IATA code is O3 and its ICAO code is CSS.

SF Airlines runs four bases in coordination, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Beijing and Ezhou, with Shenzhen Bao'an as the main operating base and Ezhou Huahu as the cargo hub core. By March 2025 the freighter fleet had passed 90 aircraft, serving more than 120 cities in China and abroad, with a network covering the domestic market and reaching Asia, Europe and North America. Widebodies make up more than 30 percent: Boeing 747 and 767 aircraft fly long-haul routes to Europe, North America and Asia, while Boeing 757 and 737 aircraft fly domestic and near-Asia routes, giving a clearly layered fleet.

For Chinese shippers the value comes down to three points. First, the Greater Bay Area origin cluster: Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Zhuhai connect directly to South Asia, Southeast Asia and long-haul North America, so Pearl River Delta electronics and cross-border e-commerce cargo can be handed over nearby. Second, the Ezhou Huahu hub links Liege, Frankfurt and Budapest in Europe with New York, Chicago and Los Angeles in North America, giving central and western shippers an outlet. Third, the westward Urumqi channel connects to Europe via Budapest and to South Asia and Central Asia via Islamabad, giving northwestern shippers a shorter international option.

The airline has long flown relief and emergency cargo, and its safety record and on-time performance have been proven over years of freighter operation. As the SF Group's aviation arm, SF Airlines coordinates capacity closely with the domestic express network and cross-border e-commerce business, and its peak-season capacity and day-to-day express transit are in the top tier of Chinese cargo airlines. For exporters and cross-border e-commerce companies that fleet size and network mean shipping plans can be projected over the long term.

SF Airlines' growth and the opening of Ezhou Huahu Airport support each other. Huahu is positioned as Asia's first purpose-built cargo hub, and SF Airlines organizes domestic and international flights around it, gathering cargo from the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei at the hub and dispatching it to Europe and North America, while distributing imports to major domestic nodes. This hub model cuts ground waiting time and lets central and western shippers access the same widebody long-haul capacity as coastal shippers. The airline's website, sf-airlines.com, publishes flight programs, operating terminals and general conditions of carriage.

The diagram shows the SF Airlines network from China to the world, with Shenzhen and Ezhou as origin centres and the main freighter destination cities marked. Cyan arcs are long-haul freighter routes and white dashed lines are near-Asia and regional routes; actual coverage and schedules are subject to carrier confirmation on the day.

By March 2025 the SF Airlines freighter fleet had passed 90 aircraft: 4 Boeing 747, 25 Boeing 767, 43 Boeing 757 and 18 Boeing 737, with widebodies above 30 percent. The structure puts widebodies on Europe and North America, and medium types on near-Asia and domestic trunk routes, matching weight, transit requirement and destination. Type payload figures are compiled from manufacturer and carrier published data; actual payload is subject to carrier confirmation on the day of booking.

Chinese shippers book through SF Airlines' operating terminals or its authorized international freight forwarders. After handover at a Chinese gateway, cargo goes through declaration, screening and loading into the mainline, and on arrival connects to collection or onward transport. The steps are as follows.

An international freight forwarder must hold the relevant licence and give an accurate commodity and declared value at booking. Dangerous goods and special cargo need advance declaration with compliant documents, confirmed by the carrier on the day of booking.

Documentation and declaration: booking an export shipment requires a commercial invoice, packing list and declaration data, while dangerous goods, lithium batteries and temperature-controlled cargo need the relevant transport documents and declarations. Shippers submit through a licensed international freight forwarder, who confirms capacity, issues the air waybill and handles the export declaration. Once the carrier confirms flight and capacity on the day of booking, the cargo is delivered to the cargo terminal at the agreed time, with clear handover points at every stage.

SF Airlines is headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, with its website at sf-airlines.com, where terminal pages give terminal details by gateway. Published terminal contacts include Shanghai Pudong airport cargo terminal east zone +86 021-68842008; Door 7 arrivals, Cargo Terminal, 88 Linghang 2nd Road, Shenzhen Airport +86 0755-23452886; and Urumqi airport international cargo terminal +86 0991-7525177. No public telephone is available for the terminals at Xi'an and Changsha; ask the SF service hotline 95338 for transfer.

Booking and rate enquiries run mainly through agents. Shippers can contact us for seasonal rates and a capacity indication, and we can help with booking and ground handling for SF Airlines in China.