A pair of pampered giant pandas, two of the few remaining specimens of an endangered species, was welcomed to their new homes in Scotland Sunday, Reuters reported.

The plane - Panda Express - carrying the two animals, for whom the Edinburgh Zoo is paying $10 million to Chinese authorities, landed at 9 p.m. Beijing time at Edinburgh Airport, after taking off from the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu.

Officials transported the pandas in custom-built containers. The pandas will become Britain's first pair of breeding pandas in 17 years. The animals are expected to eat up to $100,000 worth of bamboo shoots a year; the zoo will grow 15 percent of the required shoots and the rest will be imported from the Netherlands, the Sunday Morning Herald reported.

The pandas are all set to begin what is expected to be a 10-year loan to the city's zoo. The 8-year-old breeding pair, raised at the China Conversation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, named Tian Tian and Yang Guang (Sweetie and Sunshine in English), was surrounded by the cabin crew all the way to Scotland and their every need was catered to, a Reuters report stated.

There are four crew members, two attendants, one veterinarian and one cargo handler, and they'll be taking very close care (of them) just like first class passengers on any airline, Paul Cassel of FedEx told Reuters, before the flight took off from China.

According to reports, there are an estimated 1,600 pandas living wild in China, almost all in Sichuan. There are approximately 300 pandas in captivity around the world, with a majority of them in China.

Tian Tian, a female giant panda looks out of her container as it is unloaded off an aircraft at Edinburgh airport in Scotland
Tian Tian, a female giant panda looks out of her container as it is unloaded off an aircraft at Edinburgh airport in Scotland December 4, 2011. A pair of pampered giant pandas arrived in Scotland on Sunday to a reception of cheering and flag-waving crowds, the bears loaned by China in a move lauded by British officials as strengthening ties between the two countries. REUTERS/David Moir
Tian Tian, a female giant panda looks out of her container as it is unloaded off an aircraft at Edinburgh airport in Scotland
Tian Tian, a female giant panda looks out of her container as it is unloaded off an aircraft at Edinburgh airport in Scotland December 4, 2011. A pair of pampered giant pandas arrived in Scotland on Sunday to a reception of cheering and flag-waving crowds, the bears loaned by China in a move lauded by British officials as strengthening ties between the two countries. REUTERS/David Moir
Airport workers watch as the FedEx Panda Express aircraft carrying two giant pandas taxis along the runway at Edinburgh airport in Scotland
Airport workers watch as the FedEx Panda Express aircraft carrying two giant pandas taxis along the runway at Edinburgh airport in Scotland December 4, 2011. A pair of pampered giant pandas arrived in Scotland on Sunday to a reception of cheering and flag-waving crowds, the bears loaned by China in a move lauded by British officials as strengthening ties between the two countries. REUTERS/David Moir
A bagpiper watches as the FedEx Panda Express aircraft carrying two giant pandas taxis along the runway at Edinburgh airport in Scotland
A bagpiper watches as the FedEx Panda Express aircraft carrying two giant pandas taxis along the runway at Edinburgh airport in Scotland December 4, 2011. A pair of pampered giant pandas arrived in Scotland on Sunday to a reception of cheering and flag-waving crowds, the bears loaned by China in a move lauded by British officials as strengthening ties between the two countries. REUTERS/David Moir
A staff feeds giant panda Yang Guang with apples before being loaded into the plane at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport.
A staff feeds giant panda Yang Guang with apples before being loaded into the plane at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, Sichuan province December 4, 2011. The two giant pandas, Tian Tian and Yang Guang, will be loaned to a zoo in Britain for ten years, and expected to arrive in Edinburgh on December 4. REUTERS
Staffs transport giant panda Yang Guang in a FedEx container onto the plane at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport
Staffs transport giant panda Yang Guang in a FedEx container onto the plane at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, Sichuan province December 4, 2011. The two giant pandas, Tian Tian and Yang Guang, will be loaned to a zoo in Britain for ten years, and expected to arrive in Edinburgh on December 4. REUTERS
Staff transport panda Tian Tian in a cage at the Bifengxia panda breeding centre in Ya039an, Sichuan province
Staff transport panda Tian Tian in a cage at the Bifengxia panda breeding centre in Ya'an, Sichuan province December 3, 2011. Two pandas, Tian Tian and Yang Guang, will be loaned to a zoo in Britain for ten years, and are expected to arrive in Edinburgh on December 4. Picture taken December 3, 2011. REUTERS/China Daily
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