newstodate.aero

May 19, 2020 (newstodate): First movers are seldom rewarded in an industry marked by little customer loyalty.
   At least this is how the Lithuanian transport and logistics provider Hoptrans sees the current trend, having successfully built up a strong cargo traffic into Kaunas Airport from China carrying e-trade shipments and other cargo.
   -Only this month has seen an ever-growing number of airlines including SAS, Finnair and many others entering the cargo market by throwing in passenger aircraft on all-cargo flights on contracts with large forwarders and logistics providers, says Jan Hyttel, Hoptrans Member of the Board.
   -In this turbulent market, freighters have been working over-time, generating more block hours so far into 2020 than in the entire 2019. Meaning that they will soon be in for C-checks. Their role will increasingly be taken over by pax aircraft on all-cargo flights from airlines with or without state subsidies, hunting turn-over to honor their aircraft lease obligations.
   -Add to this new Chinese regulations from March 8, now  fully implemented. Prior to this, capacity was the hurdle; now it is the 28-hour rule that creates bottle-necks as not all airports have the capacity to complete the required processes within the set time framework. And as chartered aircraft are paid in advance, aircraft leave whether the goods have been cleared or not, short-shipping cargo.  
   -With the growing abundance of all-cargo pax aircraft capacity rates are coming down, and with the growing congestion at Chinese airports handling conditions are deteriorating, while enforced Chinese regulations are squeezing flexibility out of operations.
   -In this challenging environment, customers are shopping around for cheapest solutions - and as one of the first movers in this environment we again experience that customer loyalty is indeed a rare quality. We do have loyal clients, though, some which have returned to us each time a crisis has hit. They know our service level - but our biggest challenge is the return loads, which we have not managed to move to LT.                                                                                                                               -However, our flights from China to Lithuania are still fully booked - but I would refrain from betting on how the situation will develop over the coming few months, says Mr Hyttel.
   Hoptrans set up a scheduled all-cargo service from Beijing and Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport by late April 202,0 operating six weekly flights by converted passenger aircraft chartered from various Russian and East European airlines to carry shipments of e-commerce goods, electronics and medical equipment into Kaunas Airport, with Hoptrans providing onward trucking of goods on a network spanning most of Europe.