b'18American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comCathay Pacific Cargo recovery AIR CARGO QUARTERLY buoyed by e-commerceTom Owen, director of Cathay Cargo, says they arebuildingcargocapacityasthesectorbuilds behind e-commerce demand.By Stuart Todd, AJOTIn the words of its cargopressureontheinventories chief,CathayPacificwasof US retailers due to strong oneofthecarriershitlon- consumerdemandheading gestandthedeepestbyintotheholidayseasonand COVID. But the Hong Kong- the prospect of this leading to based carrier is now firmly ina shift in volumes from ocean recoverymodewithe-com- to air, Owen noted:merce a determining factor inImnotsureaboutan its return to growth. ocean to air shift but what we InawebcastbyCargohave seen is that demand for Masterminds,TomOwen,air has grown and as a result, director of Cathay Cargo, notwevebeenincreasingour onlyprovidedanupdateoncapacity on the trans-Pacific the companys fortunes post- lanes over the last couple of pandemic, but his commentsmonths and well continue to also revealed just how depen- do so through November and dent the air cargo industry hasearly December.LATAM Cargo 19th 767-300 freighter. become on the B2B and B2CWeestimateanywhere internet trade, particularly inbetween possibly 50-60% of the current downturn. ourcurrentex-GreaterBay LATAM adds 19th767-300 freighter WearestillrebuildingArea on-call cargo is related capacityafterCOVIDhitto e-commerce and our main 3rd in 2023 us.Thistimelastyear,wetradelanesarereallythe werent really operating anytrans-PacificlanetotheUS LATAMs expansion program adds 19 thfreighter to fleet. widebodies(aircraft).So,East and West Coast.the growth in tonnage we areTheres also e-commerce By Chris Barnett, AJOT seeing,whiledrivenbytheflowingdownintoSoutheast market,isprimarilyduetoAsia and into Europe as well. LATAM Cargo solidified its position as thefreighter fleet? us having a lot more capac- AndIthinkthemainhubs largest cargo airline group in South America in Our plan is to keep a core fleet of nine- ity available to sell this yearinChina,suchasGuang-November when it acquired its 19th 767-300teen767-300freighteraircrafthowever,we(compared to last), includingzhouandShenzhen,areall freighter, the third cargojet added to its fleetare always looking at opportunities and if cer- the current final quarter. seeing that opportunity. But this year, completing its expansion plan, andtain opportunities materialize, we may add,Hong Kong, with its big net-beefingupitsfreightercapacity70%sincesays Bianchi. We can also supplement fromwork and greater connectiv-2019 when similar airlines were cutting lift. time to time with ACMI [aircraft, crew, main- ityandseamlesstransfers, Basically, our plan was formulated look- tenance, insurance] capacity. has meant that its benefited ingatvolumesin2018-19wherewesawAsked if the cargo airline will add newsignificantly in the last year opportunities for growth and we did not takefrequencies or destinations in 2024 or beyond,frompost-COVIDe-com-into consideration what was going to happen inthe CEO was non-committal. Its more likemerce growth.the pandemic between 2020 and 2022, directoraddingdepthtomarketswealreadyserve. and CEO Andres Bianchi told American Jour- Other than adding depth and breadth to ourE-c oMMErcEk Eyd riVErnal of Transportation in an exclusive interview. currentschedule,werelookingatopportu- Itisdifficulttogauge Whenwebuilttheexpansionplan,wenities that could add one or two new marketshowprominentaplace looked at the long-term opportunities for growthbut were not ready to pull the trigger yet ande-commerce now holds as an and built in a lot of flexibility. Essentially, weannounce them. aircargoverticalbutthere builtabusinessplanforeachplanethatweBianchi hinted that LATAM Cargo couldTom Owen, Cathay Cargo is little doubt that it is a key could adjust accordingly, and it worked. also upgrade its freighter fleet, but he did notdriver of growth in the sector.In the short term, LATAM Cargo said in agive specifics. We do have a plan to receiveb uildingc apaciTy Earlierthismonth,UK press statement, the cargo fleet will focus onsome additional airframes that will be utilizedWere building up capac- cargo airline European Cargo providing additional capacity during the peakto phase out some of our older freighter air- ityasquicklyaswecantoincreasedthenumberofits seasons of fruit exports in Chilecherries incraftto refresh the fleet. respondtothemarket.Weweekly A340 freighter flights the final quarter of the yearand ValentinesLooking ahead, the LATAM Cargo CEOare going to be around 85%fromChengduinChinato Day flower exports from Colombia and Ecua- is cautious in describing his outlook for 2024.of our cargo capacitythat isBournemouth, on the English dor.Subsequently, the focus will shift towardLets say I am mildly optimistic. We believecombined freighter and belly,south coast, from six to nine.strengtheninglonghauloperationsfromcertain things will improve at the global levelby the end of this year. It means capacity on the Europe and North America to South America. and regionally in South America but there isQuizzedonwhetherthee-commerceroutehastri-still a lot of economic and political uncertaintymarketwouldendtheyearpledinthepastsixmonths laTaM E xpansionp lan that could affect (freight) volumes. Hopefully,onahigh,Owensaid:Wewithalmost700tonnesof The expansion plan, announced in 2021,that wont happen. are seeing a peak season andweekly import capacity now wasspearheadedbytheadditionofeightCurrently, parent LATAM Group operateswhile some of the more tra- available to shippers.LATAMpassenger-to-cargoconvertedair- 321 aircraft including the 19 Boeing 767-300ditionalshipmentsthatweAt the end of last month, craft. The 19th freighter is also a convertedfreightersoperatedbythreesubsidiaries would handle through Hongaircargoservicesspecialist passenger plane. LATAM Cargo Chile, LATAM Cargo Colom- Kong, around tech, garments,ChallengeGroup,whichhas Will LATAM Cargo continue to expand itsbia and LATAM Cargo Brazil. etc.,areweaker,thee-com- itsmainhubatLigeAir-merce phenomenon is strongport, in Belgium announced it andhascontinuedtogrowwas scaling up e-commerce IAG Cargo announces a new route connectingpost-COVID. flights into the Belgian airport He underlined that Cathayfrom Hong Kong and would Madrid and Doha Cargo is shipping good quan- soon be offering a daily ser-tities of e-commerce productsvice,deployingcombinedThis is IAG Cargos first direct service between Madrid and Doha through our Hong Kong hubB747 and B767 capacity. The new daily route will begin on 11th December operated by an A330 aircraft toNorth Americanconsum- AccordingtoarecentNew route provides access to the wider IAG Cargo network spanning six continents ers.Andtheresbeenanreport by Trade Data Service IAG Cargo, the cargo division of International Airlines Group (IAG) has announced a newencouraginguptickinthat(TDS),thereisanecdotal route between Madrid, Spain and Doha, Qatar expanding the businesss reach in the Middle Eastastheyear-endapproachesevidence that e-commerce is and enhancing its proposition in the Asia Pacific region.andfamiliesarepurchasingdrivingincreasedaircargo This new daily direct service between Madrid and Doha will be operated by an Iberia A330,stuff online for obviously thevolumesinthesecondhalf commencing 11th December. With Madrid being a key international hub, customers from Asiaend of the year, and also thatof the year. However, due to Pacific will be able to connect their goods into the wider network through Madrid, which serves 17retailers and restocking. (BUOYEDcontinued on (ROUTEcontinued on page 22) Astothelikelihoodofpage 20)'