newstodate.aero
Mar 30, 2011 (newstodate): The unexpected decision by British Airways World Cargo to cancel the weekly freighter flights from Norway to Hong Kong was a great disappointment for its prime customer, DH Schenker Northern Cargo.
-We had very high loads on all flights and even exceeded the targets during the last three flights especially, loading over 80 tonnes of fresh salmon on the Boeing 747-400F aircraft, says Knut Dreyer, Schenker Norway.
-Eventually, the carrier's decision to cancel the service reflected the current hike in fuel surcharges and competing airlines' varied approach to the issue.
-What counts is the all-in rate, and some airlines meet rising fuel costs and surcharges by cutting the basic rates in order to stay competitive in the market. In the end, the all-in rates by competing airlines may force a player to pull out, as airlines maintain own policies on these issues.
-So even if we were actually exceeding the contractual terms as to volumes and paid rates above the minimum in the contract, BAWC draw the conclusion that maintaining a stop at Oslo Gardermoen Airport with the extra fuel burn and extra airport charges entailed did not make sense in its calculations. So the freighter is now back to the London-Hong Kong schedule, probably flying with only 10-15 tonnes of payload towards Hong Kong.
-We are thus back now to our original logistics solution including loads on a mix of carriers including Finnair, KLM, TNT and other carriers,which serves the market well. But of course it does not compare to a direct scheduled and non-stop freighter service offering shorter lead-times and time-to-market, says Mr Dreyer.
-We had very high loads on all flights and even exceeded the targets during the last three flights especially, loading over 80 tonnes of fresh salmon on the Boeing 747-400F aircraft, says Knut Dreyer, Schenker Norway.
-Eventually, the carrier's decision to cancel the service reflected the current hike in fuel surcharges and competing airlines' varied approach to the issue.
-What counts is the all-in rate, and some airlines meet rising fuel costs and surcharges by cutting the basic rates in order to stay competitive in the market. In the end, the all-in rates by competing airlines may force a player to pull out, as airlines maintain own policies on these issues.
-So even if we were actually exceeding the contractual terms as to volumes and paid rates above the minimum in the contract, BAWC draw the conclusion that maintaining a stop at Oslo Gardermoen Airport with the extra fuel burn and extra airport charges entailed did not make sense in its calculations. So the freighter is now back to the London-Hong Kong schedule, probably flying with only 10-15 tonnes of payload towards Hong Kong.
-We are thus back now to our original logistics solution including loads on a mix of carriers including Finnair, KLM, TNT and other carriers,which serves the market well. But of course it does not compare to a direct scheduled and non-stop freighter service offering shorter lead-times and time-to-market, says Mr Dreyer.