International Business / The Pacific

France Grants FedEx Expanded Air Rights: The world’s largest air cargo shipper said it expects its Paris business to more than quadruple. The expansion at its European hub at Charles de Gaulle Airport should create about 3,000 jobs, more than half of them at Federal Express Corp. itself, Chief Executive Frederick Smith said. The increase comes in the wake of France’s awarding FedEx the right to triple its number of flights from Paris over the next 10 years, allowing FedEx to ship packages directly to Asia from Europe. The new air rights will fill a major gap in the Memphis, Tenn.-based shipper’s operations. Until now, FedEx has had to route packages back through the U.S. and then on to Asia, costing extra time and money. France will allow FedEx to increase weekly flights to between 150 and 200 a week in 2006, from 59 flights today, France’s transport ministry said.