b'34American Journal ofTransportation ajot.com(STRATEGYcontinued from(5X weekly). theaforementionedtransportingfreight market has changed butcustoms services, it will power page 32) Meanwhile, Air Canada Cargoof certain live animals to temper- justasimportantly,theoceanyour supply chain in more ways 1977, Air Canada, by then thehas an extensive pure freighterature-controlled pharmaceuticalsfreight market has changed too. than one, it told customers.countrys national airline, estab- networkintheAmericascon- toperishablesandotherhighMaersk,CMACGMandCommenting on the integra-lishedaformalcargodepart- nectingTorontowithAtlanta,value,timesensitivecommodi- MSC were each approached bytor model espoused by Maersk, mentwhichwasnotjustanDallas/FortWorth,Miami,Gua- ties that fit within Air CanadasAJOT to respond to questions onAlexIrving,equityresearch afterthought to fill empty lower- dalajara,MexicoCity,SanJosetotal air freight strategy. the outlook for their air freightanalystanddirector,Euro-deckpassengerairplanespace(CostaRica),SanJuan,Bogota,What about cargo that doesactivities and whether their com- peantransport,atBernstein, with packages. The focus wentLima and Quito plus Liege, Frank- not fit into Air Canadas well- mitment to the segment remainedtold AJOT,deeper than that. furt, Basel and Madrid in Europe.defined air freight parameters? intact. Even though market con- Ocean shipping with port WeareNorthAmericasThecarrierhasbuiltareputa- Weareexpandingquiteditions are far from ideal, there isterminals I think is a good idea only combination carrier with ation for moving heavy and out- abitintosomeveryinterest- no evidence that they are readybut its not obvious to me that passenger fleet and a dedicatedsized cargoes including live anding[aircargo]on-demandto throw in the towel. Withouttherearemeaningfulsynergies freighterfleet,MarkGalardo,exotic animals on its cargo jets. flights, says Galardo. We feelspeculatingonwhattheoceanbetweenacontainershipping executive vice president of net- Asthisiswritten,Airthere is a lot of opportunity to flycarriersstrategywillbegoingline and air cargo operations.workandrevenueplanning,CanadaCargohasnoplanstosome unique city pairs on an adforward, what we can say is that toldtheAmericanJournalofadd to its freighter fleet, Galardohoc basis. While we are stick- it is very, very difficult to makel ongh Aul or As horTTransportation(AJOT)inansays. Six of its eight 767-300Fsingtoourregularlyscheduledmoneyfromflyingfreighters,f lighT ?exclusive interview. When youwereconvertedpassengerjetscargo lanes, we are also increas- van de Wouw noted. Might they (the European talktootherNorthAmericanand two were brand new rightingly open to on-demand cargoThecomparisonoftenocean carriers) give up (on air airlines, cargo is never a majorofftheBoeingassemblyline.freighter operations. madeisCargoluxandifyoufreight)?Maerskprobablynot, part of their fundamental strategyWewillstaythereforabitTheAirCanadaexecu- would look at their margins, out- given how committed they are or how central cargo is to theirgiven the kind of cargo dynam- tivevicepresidenttoldAJOTsideofCOVID,theyareverytotheintegratorstrategy.The overall revenue. Along with ourics we are seeing in the market,he is convinced the carrier canlow single digit, and you couldotherspossibly. I would think internationalfootprint,weseehe says. Eight freighter aircraftexpandintoon-demandflightsargue maybe even less than thetheycouldfindbuyersforthe tremendous synergies in havingis sufficient. at this point without having tocost of capital. planestheyhavealthoughthis both fleets separate but together.addtoitsfreighterfleet.OurAirfreightisanunfor- would be more driven by stra-In fact, cargo is gaining more andc Argof eeDsP Assenger 767fleetisnotbeingpushedgivingmarketinmanyways.tegic considerations, rather than more momentum internally. However,AirCanadaisthat hard yet, he says. Unlessyourunavery,verybycyclicalfactorsofsupply addingbellylift.GalardosaysOverall,theairlineschieftight ship and you know exactlyversus demand. I do think well twoB-787-9sandtwoleasedplanning and revenue official iswhat youre doing, its very dif- getstrongerdemandcoming AirbusA330-300s,bothwide- optimistic about the future.Heficult to make money over time,through(inairfreight)asthe bodypassengerjets,willjoinsays the first four months of 2023the last few years having beenmacro climate improves.thefleet.Plus,wehaveonwere generally robust but thenexceptional. Compared to its peers, MSC order eighteen 787-10 (Dream- itfellprecipitouslyandthenitcame late to the air freight party, liners)fromBoeingthatwillcorrected nicely above 2019 ton- m ArkeTT urBulence so to speak, but it has definitely be coming starting in the fourthnage and yield levels. We outper- CMA CGMs cargo airline,made up ground since then. In a quarterof2025.Itsanexcel- formed most of our peers fromCMA CGM Air Cargo, has hadwebcast by Cargo Masterminds, lent cargo plane. It has two morea revenue perspective. It was asomethingofaturbulentthreeearlierthisyear,DannieJavel, palletpositionsversusthe787year of normalization. yearsinbusinesswithseveraltheSwitzerland-basedgroups -7, 8, and 9. Its impressive cargoFor2024,Galardosaysthechanges in its top management,SVP Air Cargo, evoked a very capability was a big part of theairline is seeing growth in Asiamostly recently the departure ofexciting journey and very rapid decision-making process in whyand starting to see some improve- air logistics veteran Peter Pens- growthwiththein-houseair-we selected that aircraft. mentsinSouthAmerica.Buteel, who has quit as deputy CEOlineputtingtogetherafleetof Mark Galardo, Air Canada Duringhisinterview,2024and2025aregoingtobeand set to join Delta Cargo asfourB777Fs,wet-leasedfrom Galardo did not spell out whereyears where Air Canada is reallySVP and president. Atlas Air, in the space of around As a company, Air Canadain the world the new passengergoing to be executing that feeder- Theabruptterminationof14 months.hasenviableimaginationandplanes,withtheirsubstantialtransit cargo strategy. an intended decade-long partner- Hehighlightedtheadvan-flexibility.PostCOVID,whencargo lift, will be assigned. ButA statistical snapshot of theship with Air France KLM Cargotage of starting from scratch and it, like many other airlines, hadit would seem likely that Southcarrier says it best. Air Canadaafteronlyoneyearhasbeennotbeinghamperedbylegacy to ground aircraft when peopleAmerican routes could see someincluding its Rouge leisure air- explained by the failure to obtainsystems, However, the respon-suddenly stopped flying, the car- newcargocapacity,possiblylinehas248aircraftflyingtoregulatory approval to operate insibility is on us to make sure we rier innovatively created Char- on a seasonal basis if not year- 168destinationsonsixcon- the US market but there has alsobuildsomethingforthefuture lies by removing the seats fromround. For example, Air Canadatinents.Thefleethas82widebeen speculation that the allianceand not from a habit.11widebodypassengerjets,aoperates a seasonal flight to San- bodiedpassengerplaneswithended because of losses at CMAHe continued: Im a strong mix of Boeing 777s and Airbustiago, Chile, he notes. It also haslarge belly freight capacities. ItsCGM Air Cargo. believer that wide-body capac-A330s.AirCanadawasthedaily flights linking Sao PauloAir Canada Cargo fleet is eightWhateverthereasons,theitywillalwaysbeneededfor industrys first airline to produceand Buenos Aires. Boeing 767-330F freighters. collapse of the partnership cannotglobaltrade.andwecontinue these instant freighters.In the past, it had a passen- be considered anything other thantoworksurgicallyonthose Looking ahead, Air Canadager flight from Canada to Lima,a major setback for the fledglingopportunities which we believe islaunchingsignificantroutePeru, says Galardo. But we had(FUTUREcontinued fromairlines ambitions while raisingbestsuittoourtriplesevens, expansionsinthenextfewsomecivilunrestandpoliticalpage 32) the question of whether it has thebasedontheprofileandthe months.Newthree-times-a- uncertainty last year that forcedaxe to fall. experience and the commitmentcommoditywiththeaimof weekBoeing787-9Dream- us to cancel (the service) but weIngeneral,whencompa- to go it alone.offeringaveryfocusedpre-linerservicefromMontrealwould be looking to go back atnies are making a lot of moneyAs for Maersk, the Danishmium product selection.and twice weekly service fromsome point. they tend to look more at diversi- giantunderlinedthatitsforayHowever, he did not down-Toronto to Stockholm will pro- Air Canada and Air Canadafying services in their portfolio.intomainstreamairfreightplaythechallengingmarket vide belly capacity to SwedensCargo has a very definable strat- But when markets are tougher,would see it replicate the struc- MSC AirCargofindsitselfin capitalcity. Anewroutefromegywhenitcomestofreightthey tend to move closer to theture that it had within its oceantoday, particularly on the supply MontrealtoMadridisbeingandGalardodiscussesitquitecore again because the pressurefleet and was part of a strategy toside with Asia passenger demand added. Galardo says the carriercandidly. Canada is a relativelyon them is building, Niall vanprovide customers with an inte- returning and with it significant is targeting Asia for fresh rev- weak export market and a rela- de Wouw, chief airfreight officergrated logistics offering. belly cargo space.enueinmid-yearthatincludestively strong import market, heat market intelligence platform,The owned controlled capac- Buttheoverallsentiment newservicefromVancouverexplains.WehavenotroubleXeneta, told AJOT. ity, powered by Maersk Air Cargo,still looks positive for the next to Singapore, Toronto to OsakafillingourbellieswestboundI can well imagine that theis designed to make supply chaincouple of years and the market and Montreal to Seoul. There isinto Canada but eastbound, outCFOs of these carriers are scru- journeys more resilient and intui- should refine back to a normal-a big, big focus on cargo to makeof Canada, those bellies becometinizingeverythingthatisnottive. When combined with ourityofdecentaveragemarket these routes viable, he adds. quite perishable when you donttruly ocean core. So yes, the airocean, inland, warehousing andyields, he added.Indeed, Air Canada returnedfill them. toSingaporesChangiInterna- Hence,theAirCanada tional Airport for the first time inCargofreightersareusedto over 30 years. A B-789-9 took offpick up freight in relatively big onafour-flight-a-weeksched- markets like South America, and ule from Vancouver on April 3,USA markets like Atlanta, Dal-making it the only non-stop ser- las-Fort WorthandMiamiand vice from Canada to Singapore.even Caribbean and Latin des-Air Canada awarded a passenger,tinationslikePuertoRicoand ramp and cargo handling contractMexicoCity,Galardocontin-toSATSand WorldwideFlightues, [they] bring the freight up Service (WFS). to our hub in Toronto and transit In March, Air Canada increasedit onto the bellies of our global capacitytomajorworldmar- passenger network.kets including Copenhagen (4XInshort,theAirCanada weekly),Dublin(7Xweekly)Cargo freighters are feeding the London (49X weekly), Los Ange- Air Canada passenger fleet.les(21Xweekly)Newark(7XWithin that feeder approach, weekly)Orlando(15Xweekly)the carrier has a number of specific Phoenix (7X weekly) and ViennacargoprogramsrangingfromCMA CGM Air Cargo B777 aircraft prepares for landing.'