newstodate.aero
Jan 14, 2010 (newstodate): The Finnish market was severely hit by the decline in world finances and trade that took at heavy toll on the country's exporting industries.
-The problem is that the market's cargo volumes fell drastically while all competitors remained. So the struggle for cargo has been very intense, and rates have gone steeply down, Ilkka Turku, SAS Cargo Manager Finland.
-Hopes for an early recovery cooled off as we came nearer to the end of the year, while some positive signs for air cargo emerged mainly due to the container problems building up in the sea transportation sector. This was, however, never enough to really turn the trends.
-Having said that, SAS Cargo has maintained its staff and the position in the market where we benefit from relatively short trucking times to the SAS hubs in Copenhagen and Stockholm. Even after the closure of the route from Copenhagen to Seattle we have significant volumes of cargo to the US market that is the single most important market for SAS Cargo in Finland. And while Finnair is definitely dominating the market as to Far Eastern traffic, they still cannot lift all cargo and the is a significant spill-over left for other airlines to compete for. Beijing is one example of a Chinese destination of great importance for us in our sales work.
-All European airline operating at Helsinki and other Finnish destinations use small aircraft with limited cargo capacity. They therefore all rely on Road Feeder Services - and here the total transportation times by our competitors are far longer than in the case of SAS Cargo. So after all, the adverse market situation considered, we are doing pretty well, says Mr Turku.
-The problem is that the market's cargo volumes fell drastically while all competitors remained. So the struggle for cargo has been very intense, and rates have gone steeply down, Ilkka Turku, SAS Cargo Manager Finland.
-Hopes for an early recovery cooled off as we came nearer to the end of the year, while some positive signs for air cargo emerged mainly due to the container problems building up in the sea transportation sector. This was, however, never enough to really turn the trends.
-Having said that, SAS Cargo has maintained its staff and the position in the market where we benefit from relatively short trucking times to the SAS hubs in Copenhagen and Stockholm. Even after the closure of the route from Copenhagen to Seattle we have significant volumes of cargo to the US market that is the single most important market for SAS Cargo in Finland. And while Finnair is definitely dominating the market as to Far Eastern traffic, they still cannot lift all cargo and the is a significant spill-over left for other airlines to compete for. Beijing is one example of a Chinese destination of great importance for us in our sales work.
-All European airline operating at Helsinki and other Finnish destinations use small aircraft with limited cargo capacity. They therefore all rely on Road Feeder Services - and here the total transportation times by our competitors are far longer than in the case of SAS Cargo. So after all, the adverse market situation considered, we are doing pretty well, says Mr Turku.