1. Boeing 747SP | B-2442

China Central received four out of six ex-CATA Boeing 747SP aircraft after its founding in 1988, mainly for North American services that departed from Shanghai. CATA operated two weekly Beijing-Shanghai-San Francisco-New York flights and a once weekly Beijing-Shanghai-San Francisco-Los Angeles flight that were both maintained under China Central; the aircraft were also used on flights to Sydney via Guangzhou, and on various European missions. In their later career, the Boeing 747SP fleet was relegated to intra-Asian flights, while major transpacific and Eurasian flights were taken over by newly-delivered Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A340-300 aircraft. Two Boeing 747SP aircraft were sold to Pratt & Whitney for use as testbed aircraft; the other two were scrapped.