Giant Pandas Land Safely

Giant pandas Tian Tian, Mei Xiang and Xiao Qi Ji began their journey to China Nov. 8. At 9:31 a.m. EST, the departed the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute for Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia where they boarded a dedicated and custom-decaled FedEx Panda Express Boeing 777F aircraft.

The trans-Pacific flight from Washington, D.C., to Chengdu, China, included a brief refueling stop in Anchorage, Alaska. After a long flight with plenty of bamboo, they touched down at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport at 11:23 p.m. China Standard Time and arrived at the gate at 11:30 p.m. Special thanks to our partners at FedEx for transporting our Very Important Pandas in style!