Pang Yuliang, an entrepreneur from central China’s Henan Province and chairman of the board of logistics company Linde Group, has entered the history books by becoming the first Chinese person to acquire the permanent operating rights to an airport in Europe.
Parchim Cities Airport, located near Schwerin, Germany, lies between Hamburg and Berlin.
From there a two-hour flight can get you most places in Europe. The airport has been used before by some of Europe’s ultra-cheap airlines and no doubt it will be again. Purchase price is said to have been a total of $147 million.
Initially it is expected to operate a group of weekly passenger charter flights. At the moment the number of flights is sparse. Indeed, at the beginning of this week there were none.
However, Europe is full of cheap flight airlines who are always willing to do a deal to get inexpensive landing rights in the middle of Germany. It is likely, however, that the airfield will specialize in cargo because it already has an enclosed duty free area for onward shipments.