FEDEX Express is to fly two pandas non-stop from Chengdu to Edinburgh by donating its logistics services to the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA).

    The specially-chartered and panda-painted Boeing 777F known as the "FedEx Panda Express" will transport Tian Tian (aka Sweetie), an eight year-old female panda, and Yang Guang (aka Sunshine), an eight year-old male panda in separate custom-built perspex containers from Chengdu's Bifengxia Panda Base.

    FedEx Express will provide ground transport to Edinburgh Zoo in a panda-painted FedEx truck with police escort provided by Lothian and Borders Police force, said a company statement.

    Their arrival will mark the first time in more than 17 years that giant pandas will reside in the United Kingdom. The UK's last giant panda, Ming Ming, left London Zoo to return to China on October 26, 1994. Both Tian Tian and Yang Guang are part of global giant panda conservation programmes designed to increase the panda population which number only 1,600 in the wild, according to conservationists.

    Due to security regulations, the departure and arrival events of the pandas will be closed to the general public, but people can follow the pandas' journey at blog.fedex.com/panda-express.

    FedEx Express has a long history of transporting rare and delicate cargo. In February 2010, FedEx Express transported Tai Shan, a male panda born at the National Zoo in Washington DC and Mei Lan, a female panda born at Zoo Atlanta, Georgia back to China.

    Exotic cargo transported by FedEx Express has included polar bears, white tigers, elephants, penguins, mountain lions, gorillas, eagles and even a 13-foot tiger shark used in filming the movie "Jaws."

(source:http://www.shippingonline.cn/news/newsList.asp?page=2&classname=News)