Qantas Freight Enterprises announced that it had agreed to a six-year wet lease extension on three Boeing 747-400 Freighter aircraft leased from Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc.

Executive General Manager Qantas Freight Enterprises, Grant Fenn, said the agreement confirmed Qantas' long-term commitment to growing its international air cargo business.

'The operation of our dedicated freighter fleet since 2003 has been a great success. They are used to operate a mix of scheduled and charter services and support Qantas passenger aircraft belly hold capacity to key cargo destinations around the globe.

'We currently operate seven scheduled weekly B747F freighter services from Australia into China, five weekly services from China to the United States, four weekly services from the US into Australia and one weekly service from Hong Kong, Europe and Shanghai into Australia.'

Mr. Fenn said in 2006/07 Qantas carried nearly 340,000 tons of airfreight, an increase of more than 100,000 tons since dedicated freighters were introduced in 2003.