Jade Cargo International Company Ltd. was founded in October 2004 as a joint venture between Shenzhen Airlines (51%), Lufthansa Cargo AG (25%) and the German development finance institute DEG-Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (24%). The Company's headquarter is located in Shenzhen (SZX), a fast-growing industrial hub in Pearl River Delta of Guangdong province in China. The airline currently has around 250 employees.

Jade Cargo International started flight operations in August 2006 and operates currently a fleet of five B747-400ERFs (Extended Range Freighter). The airline has ordered a total of six aircraft of this type, which will enter service successively until January 2008. All aircraft are registered in China.

The B747-400 ERF (Extended Range Freighter) is an economical state-of-the-art freighter, having an increased maximum take off weight of 413,000 kg, allowing it to fly an additional 1,000 km or carry an additional 10,000 kg of payload, compared with a standard B747-400F. Unique features of the B747-400F series are the temperature controlled zones, adjustable from 4 until 29 degrees Celsius. With its spacious nose cargo door, the freighter is ideally suited for outsized cargo which does not fit through the side cargo door of older or converted B747.

Jade Cargo International currently serves the following destinations from its hub in Shenzhen (SZX):

• Amsterdam (AMS), The Netherlands
• Seoul-Incheon (ICN), South Korea
• Barcelona (BCN), Spain 
• Brescia (VBS), Italy
• Osaka (KIX), Japan
• Luxembourg (LUX), Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
• Shanghai-Pudong (PVG), People's Republic of China
• Tianjin (TSN), People's Republic of China 
• Stockholm (ARN), Sweden
• Frankfurt (FRA), Germany

With a dense trucking network, Jade Cargo has close links to Hong Kong and Guangzhou airports as well as to many other Chinese cities. Jade Cargo also provides regular trucking services connecting all major European airports with Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brescia, Milan,Frankfurt ,Luxembourg and Stockholm.