The United Parcel Service (UPS), one of the world's leading delivery companies, launched a maiden charter flight Monday from Shenzhen, a city in south China's Guangdong Province, said an official with the airport.

Wang Huichen, director of the Shenzhen airport customs, said Shenzhen has gradually become south China's logistics center. Insiders point out that the maiden flight has intensified the competition among world's express giants in the Shenzhen market.

The UPS will arrange 24 flights weekly in Shenzhen airport. According to statistics given by the airport monitoring center on overseas express, the airport has handled 18.9 million pieces of international express mail in 2004 worth 10.65 billion yuan (about 1.28 billion US dollars), ranking first in the country.

More than 30 world's and domestic express companies do business in Shenzhen, which has become a lucrative market for express business. Fedex has built a 2,000 square meter storehouse in the airport, with 12 flights handled in the airport every week. DHL is setting up its storehouse in the airport and will be put into use in the near future.