Qatar Airways cargo volume is expanding rapidly and there is more to come. With an impressive surge in its 2015 cargo volume, posting a 37.5% growth over the previous year, Qatar Airways has moved into global expansion gear, adding new freighters and new cargo destinations.
The cargo carrier handled some 1.520 million tons in 2015 compared to 1.104 million tons in 2014.
While the carrier has intensified its operations worldwide, its top ten cargo destinations are to be found in Asia, Western Europe and North America. The carrier has been aggressively trying to foray into these regions, which are inherent with growth potential despite the fierce competition. Qatar Airways’ cargo traffic growth also underscores the significance of Qatar’s Doha airport as the carrier’s hub and transhipment point. While imported cargo into Doha airport registered a 29% growth and export cargo from Doha increased 10%, the overall transit cargo at Doha jumped 39%.
This so-called “success streak”, as the cargo carrier’s growing business is being touted, has also driven the carrier to sharpen its focus on North America which the carrier’s chief officer cargo, Ulrich Ogiermann, has been describing as a “very important market”. Indeed, Qatar Airways’ new daily passenger service to Los Angeles launched in January 2016 will provide a weekly belly-hold cargo capacity of 80 tons on its B-777 aircraft. The carrier also increased its freighter service to Los Angeles effective January from three to four flights a week, representing an additional weekly 100 ton-capacity to that city.
New Markets
In January, the carrier also launched its new dedicated freighter service route to Dallas/Fort Worth, increasing the 400 tons of export cargo capacity per month, transported as belly-hold cargo on Qatar Airways’ passenger services, to 1,000 tons of exports a month. Import capacity into Dallas increased to a total of 300 tons per month.
Meanwhile, the carrier will launch services to new freighter destinations such as Prague and Budapest in Eastern Europe and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam in March 2016.
An A330F will fly twice a week from Doha to Ho Chi Minh on Thursdays and Saturdays, providing 120 tons of cargo capacity to and from the city per week, in addition to the 72 tons weekly belly-hold capacity on the daily passenger flights to Ho Chi Minh. Qatar Airways Cargo’s new service to Ho Chi Minh is expected to bolster Vietnam’s exports of garments, footwear and handicrafts to the US and Europe.
The new Doha – Budapest – Prague service will depart from Doha on Thursdays and Sundays. The 120 tons of weekly cargo capacity on the A330F, which will fly to the two new Eastern European cities, will be allocated evenly between the two markets. This new route will provide a major new gateway into Eastern Europe from Asia for electronics and automotive parts, as well as textiles, pharmaceuticals and biotech products.
“We have identified a definite gap in the market in these regions and we look forward to supporting local businesses in the areas with a more robust service connecting them to our wider global network,” Ogiermann said.
Furthermore, belly-hold capacity will be available on new passenger routes to Ras Al-Khaimah, Boston, Atlanta, Birmingham and Adelaide in 2016. To sustain the additional capacity, Qatar Airways Cargo is also adding new aircraft to its fleet. Already, two new aircraft - one B747-F nose loader and one A A330 freighter – were absorbed into the fleet in December 2015.
The carrier says that its fleet will continue to grow as it awaits delivery of its eighth A330F and three more B777F aircraft by end 2016. The cargo carrier now has a fleet of 16 freighters including seven Airbus A330F, eight Boeing 777F and one Boeing 747F.
Third Largest Cargo Carrier
Qatar Airways Cargo, the world’s third largest cargo carrier, according to IATA’s latest international FTK figures, is scheduled to receive further aircraft next year, thus inflating its fleet size to a total of 21 freighters by 2017. The carrier says that the acquisition of the new aircraft demonstrates its “unwavering commitment” to developing one of the strongest air cargo fleets in the skies.
“The arrival of this new aircraft brings our total fleet now to 16 freighters and is an important addition to the airline at a time when we are experiencing unprecedented growth. Increasing our capacity in tandem with increasing our network reach is an essential part of our strategy for the coming years and we expect to have a total of 21 freighters in our fleet by 2017,” Ogiermann explained.
The new aircraft is currently scheduled to support the airline’s network by increasing frequencies to Bahrain, Brussels, Chennai, Hyderabad, London Stansted and Mumbai.
The A330-200F, a mid-size freighter, can carry a maximum gross pay load of up to 68 tons; its large main-deck cargo door allows the aircraft to accept all commonly-used pallets and containers, enabling the transport of a full range of cargo – from high-value consumer goods to express packages and perishables.
The B747 freighter is ideal for the requirements of express cargo and industrial freight operators. The B747 freighter has seating for up to eight cargo attendants or grooms for horses. The B747F has a main deck nose door and a mechanized cargo handling system. The nose door swings up so that pallets or containers up to 40 ft can be loaded straight in on motor-driven rollers. At the Paris Airshow 2015, Qatar Airways placed a firm order for four B777 freighters in addition to the four B777 freighters ordered at the Farnborough Airshow 2014.
At a press conference held in Doha, Qatar Airways’ Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker had told the American Journal of Transportation that a new multi-deck cargo facility would be opened by 2018 at Doha’s Hamad International Airport. When complete, the new facility will increase the hub’s combined capacity of both terminals to 4.4 million tons per year with the potential for further expansion to 7 million tons in the future.
The carrier has also been highlighting the launch of its “next-generation cargo management system” called CROAMIS whose aim is to manage the end-to-end airline cargo business processes. CROAMIS – short for the carrier’s Cargo Reservations, Operations, Accounting and Management Information System – is a single system serving the airline’s entire global cargo network, performing functions such as sales, pricing, cargo ground handling, and ULD Management.
CROAMIS provides an integrated revenue management module for inventory management, cargo load and revenue optimization and also has a robust cargo revenue accounting suite
Perishables continue to be an important cargo product category. So are pharmaceutical products for which the carrier launched in 2015 a Pharma Express service connecting European points through Doha to India, which has emerged as the world’s single biggest supplier of generic pharmaceuticals.
