If Pang Yuliang enjoyed keeping a low profile before, his days of anonymity are well and truly over. After all it's difficult to live in the shadows once you have purchased a German airport.

Pang will take over the permanent operating rights of the Parchim Airport near Schwerin City in north Germany after shelling out 1 billion yuan (about $130.7 million or 97.19 million euros), said a report from China's official Xinhua News Agency on May 24, citing a Schwerin source who was attending a business forum in China.

According to the report, Pang's LinkGlobal Logistics Co. based in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, signed an agreement with the airport authorities and notarized the deal in Hamburg on May 14. The purchase covers the land, assets and all equipment and installations at the airport, which has a 3,000-meter runway.

Pang is allegedly the first Chinese businessman to make such a deal.

It was the first time Pang had become the focus of public attention, having not even appeared on any of China's "most wealthy" lists.

An investigation by the Shanghai-based National Business Daily revealed that Pang, in his 40s, was among the earliest Chinese business people to engage in the freight-forwarding business. His company currently runs a service network covering more than 500 cities in about 80 countries and regions. In recent years, Pang has earned a sizeable fortune through operating cargo charter flights between the mainland and some African and European countries, such as Nigeria and Turkey.

The Xinhua report quoted Pang as saying that his company would launch cargo and weekly passenger charter flights between Zhengzhou and Schwerin once the management company for Parchim Airport was decided.

According to a report from Schwerin Chamber of Commerce in 2005, the Baltic airport Schwerin-Parchim provides a hub for air-based goods transport, with its central location between the two largest German metropolitan areas-Hamburg and Berlin. The German Aviation Authority classified the airport in security category 4E, which is among the highest in the aviation world. The airport belongs to the network of regional airports in Germany. The shortest handling times is achieved here by logistics professionals thanks to the connection of the airport, railway, the seaport of Wismar, and motorways. Large airplanes, such as the AN124 or Boeing 747, can be processed smoothly around the clock. Even the world's largest passenger plane, Airbus A380, can take off and land at Schwerin.

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