Middle East : Qatar Cargo boosts freighter services

Middle East : Qatar Cargo boosts freighter services

Qatar Airways’ cargo division has announced it will begin scheduled dedicated freighter services to three North American destinations – Atlanta, Houston and Toronto. The new North American services will be operated with Qatar Airways’ B777 freighters and will fly from the airline’s hub in Doha via Luxembourg. Atlanta and Houston will be served with twice-weekly flights from 1 November, while the Toronto services began five days later on 7 November. In North America, Qatar Airways currently operates dedicated freighters only to Chicago. The carrier also flies daily non-stop passenger services to Houston, New York and Washington, together with thrice-weekly flights to Montreal, offering sufficient cargo space in the belly of the aircraft. Meanwhile, Qatar Airways’ passenger services to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia were supplemented with a weekly cargo flight, effective 30 October. In addition, extra cargo flights are being operates to Chicago, Colombo, Bahrain, Dammam, Hong Kong and Tehran from 30 October. Over the past few months, Qatar Airways Cargo has significantly ramped up its expansion with increased frequencies and the order for a further three B777 freighters. Recent frequency increases have been implemented to Kuwait, Bengaluru, Kozhikode and Hanoi. Qatar Airways Group chief executive officer Akbar Al Baker said that the airline’s dedicated cargo network was an extension of the airline’s strategy to develop its global air transport business. “With the recent completion of our 35 per cent stake in Cargolux, Europe’s largest cargo airline, we have increased our focus on freighter operations, which ties seamlessly into the airline’s strategy to have as many connecting points across the globe from our Doha hub,” said Al Baker. “We have identified tremendous route expansion opportunities around the world, including North America where the freighter market is huge.” Qatar Airways Cargo currently has a fleet of three A300-600s and two B777 freighters. Qatar Airways expanded its passenger services to Entebbe in Uganda from early November; and Chongqing, the airline’s fifth China gateway, from 28 November. Flights to Baku and Tbilisi, the capitals of Azerbaijan and Georgia respectively, will be launched on 1 February next year. Separately, Qatar Airways has announced plans to launch four-timesa- week non-stop passenger service from Doha to Libya’s second largest city of Benghazi on 1 November utilising A320 aircraft. As part of the airline’s aggressive route expansion strategy to fly to diverse cities, Benghazi is yet another destination which is underserved and will benefit from new international flights, the carrier said. Benghazi, Libya’s north eastern Mediterranean port city and major economic centre, is a key destination for trade and exports. Many industries including oil refining, food processing, cement production and tuna fishing, reside in the surrounding region of Cyrenaica, of which Benghazi is the capital. Qatar Airways has a well established presence in Libya, having initially operated services to the capital Tripoli eight years ago. Flights to Tripoli are currently suspended due to the political situation, but are expected to resume soon.

Etihad Crystal Cargo does Afghan heavy lift Etihad Crystal Cargo operated six heavy lift flights from the UAE into Afghanistan last month. The cargo flights, leased from Etihad Crystal Cargo partner Maximus Air Cargo, are being operated on an Antonov An-124 aircraft and are an extension of an existing commercial agreement between Hertz and Etihad Airways. Hertz has had a commercial agreement with Etihad Airways since 2010 with the long term agreement enabling Hertz to utilise Etihad’s wet leased aircraft for a large number of smaller vehicle air shipments. The heavy lift cargo flights will transport large scale construction machinery including four wheel drive vehicles, cranes and rough terrain heavy duty plant equipment to two bases in Afghanistan, where Hertz is expanding its heavy duty machinery rental business. Roy Kinnear, senior VP Cargo at Etihad, said: “The Antonov An-124 aircraft, leased from Maximus Air Cargo, are the ideal aircraft for moving these supersized pieces of equipment. We look forward to further strengthening our partnership with Hertz as this project develops utilising Etihad’s wet leased MD11 and A300 freighter aircraft.”

Emirates SkyCargo uplifts heaviest ever item Emirates SkyCargo recently moved the heaviest single item ever carried by the freight division of Emirates Airline – a 36-tonne part for a ship’s rudder. The rudder stock – 9.16 metres long and 1.05 metres wide – was required for urgent repairs to a vessel at Dubai Dry Docks. The part – tailor-made by Korean steel manufacturer Taewoong – would normally be transported by sea, but a quick solution was required to reduce the cost of the ship being out of service. In conjunction with Dubai-based charter broker Air Charter International, the rudder stock was transported on a B747-400 Emirates freighter from Seoul to Dubai. The move “tested groundhandling operations at both airports to the fullest, Emirates said. Two cranes – capable of lifting 50 tonnes each – along with two high loaders were required, while more than 30 workers in both Seoul and Dubai made sure the intricate loading operation went smoothly. “Precision planning and the combined expertise of everyone involved at Emirates SkyCargo, dnata, Air Charter International and Atlas Air was crucial to this success of this project,” said Hiran Perera, Emirates’ senior VP Cargo Planning & Freighters. In the 2010-11 financial year, Emirates SkyCargo carried 1.8 million tonnes of cargo across its network, contributing 17.4 per cent – US$ 2.4 billion – of the airline’s total transport revenue. Emirates’ 157-strong fleet includes eight freighters – three Boeing 747-400Fs, two 747-400ERFs and three 777Fs. In 2010, the carrier launched nine new routes, including three freighter services – to Almaty, Bagram, Campinas. Emirates’ new routes in 2011 include Basra, Erbil (freighter only), Geneva, Copenhagen and St Petersburg, while Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, Dublin, Lusaka and Harare, Dallas and Seattle will be added to the network in 2012.

Qatar Air continues Scandinavian expansion

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker has reinforced the strategic importance of the airline’s ongoing expansion in Scandinavia following its latest route launch to Oslo. The 5th October start-up of scheduled flights to Norway’s capital city complements the airline’s existing services to Stockholm and Copenhagen with the Gulf carrier now flying to three key points in Northern Europe. The new route promises to be a strong catalyst to enhance bilateral trade between Norway and the State of Qatar, and the Middle East in general, the carrier said. There is significant Norwegian private sector interest in Qatar. The world’s largest aluminium plant, Qatalum (Qatar Aluminium), is based in Qatar. The multimillion dollar joint venture is between Qatar Petroleum and the Norwegian company, Norsk Hydro. “Public demand, huge tourism opportunities and our common trade interests in oil and gas played an important part in Qatar Airways’ decision to open up this new route between our Doha hub and Oslo,” said Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker. “With many Norwegian companies having business interests in the Gulf, we believe this new route will help fuel business even further,” he added. Doha-Oslo is served five-times-a-week by Qatar Airways, while Stockholm and Copenhagen are each operated daily non-stop from the Qatari capital utilsing A330 equipment. Qatar Airways celebrates 100th aircraft Qatar Airways has taken delivery of its 100th aircraft, a B777-200LR, in a ceremony held at Boeing’s Seattle facility. Qatar Airways now operates 27 B777 wide body long-haul aircraft, together with a mix of Airbus A320 Family jets, A330s and A340s to reach today’s landmark figure of a 100-strong fleet. Of the Boeing 777s in Qatar Airways’ current fleet, 16 are of the Extended Range version, nine are ultra Long Range and the remaining two being freighters. The airline has a further 13 Boeing 777s on order. Speaking at the ceremony shortly before boarding the delivery flight to the Qatari capital, Qatar Airways CEO, Akbar Al Baker said that the airline had come a long way in a short time since its 1997 launch with a handful of aircraft and handful of routes to the current 100 aircraft serving 100 destinations. “The industry has watched us closely as we rapidly developed a truly global network of flights to reach all corners of the world with a modern fleet of aircraft to give the travelling public the high levels of service and travel options that they fully deserve,” said Al Baker. “From an operational perspective, the 777 has enabled us to pursue our aggressive global expansion plans, allowing us to operate direct non-stop flights from our Doha hub to destinations as far afield as Sao Paolo, Melbourne, Houston and Montreal in a cost-effective manner.