newstodate.aero

Jul 02, 2021 (newstodate): Does the cautious return of belly cargo as airlines reopen passenger air traffic spell the end of all-cargo operations with passenger aircraft?
   -This will undoubtedly happen. But so far into 2021, we have not noted this effect, says Ole Haarh Hansen, Blue Water Head of Airfreight.
   -But as airlines reopen passenger traffic, we expect to see frequencies to grow as well. Today's wide-body aircraft lift up to between 20 and 40 tonnes of cargo with full passenger loads, and operating all-cargo without passengers does not mean much added capacity; upper-deck cargo is restricted to carriage of light, voluminous shipments like PPE, adding little to the total tonnage.
   -The crux is frequency, as airlines gradually return from all-cargo to passenger flights; one all-cargo operations replaced by one passenger flight does not add capacity. But if replaced by two or four daily passenger flight frequencies, cargo capacity will gain in volume.
   -We are however still in a volatile situation as no one can predict the course of the coronavirus; lock-downs and restrictions may be enforced with little or no warning, making longer-term predictions unfeasible.
   -Also, one trend is for airlines to open up flights primarily serving the leisure market, where destinations are most often without any importance for the airfreight communities.
   -Our focus today is on the US and Far Eastern traffic; here, the scarcity of frequencies and routes remains a challenge. Further exacerbated by constraints on other modes of transportation including sea, rail, and in the case of e.g. China even trucking where all available capacity is exhausted.
   -Summing up, the logistic chains are utterly strained, leading also to a spike in rates; even when customers accept the rates offered on the market it still remains a challenge to find capacity. Building strong relations with airlines based on long-term mutual loyalty has been our approach, and so far this has allowed us to serve customers during the prevailing Covid-19 crisis, says Mr Haarh Hansen.