A slightly different market focus than other cargo carriers is the engine behind the healthy growth of Qatar Airways Cargo, according to John Batten, GM of Qatar’s worldwide cargo operations. While many carriers rely on the traditional Far East to Europe, via the Middle East trade, Qatar Airways Cargo has opted to also tap this trade, but not at the expense of other regions with highgrowth potential.
“Qatar Airways Cargo is looking for strategic growth in the Middle East, Africa and the Indian Sub-Continent where the airline is concentrating on developing its freighter expansion,” he said.
As Qatar Airways’ passenger network expands, the cargo side relies on a model developed in-house to enhance these new routes and identify new business opportunities that need to be tapped.“All regions offer some opportunitiesand our job is to analyse our networkcapabilities and exploit these to thebenefi t of Qatar Airways Cargo,” saidBatten.
Statistics show major growth in the Middle East and Africa and Batten said he expects this trend to continue for anumber of years.
“All markets we serve are growing but the Middle East and Africa will continue to expand faster than other regions for the next 18 months.” And, not forgetting the ongoing growth in the Indian Sub-Continent, he said.
New passenger routes to India’s Nagpur and Ahmedabad were added to Qatar’s network in September andDecember respectively.
The Nagpur route is all the more signifi cant as the Indian Government plans to make Nagpur the country’sLogistics centre.
“South America is a market we are closely watching as it is one of the key emerging markets in the world,” Batten added.
Qatar Airways Cargo has increased its freighter network and stepped up the number of cargo-only destinations it serves worldwide from 9 to 16 thissummer.
During the past six months Qatar’s freighter network has been transformed radically with new destinations including: Algiers, Tunis, Milan, Istanbul, Karachi, Colombo and Johor Bahru in Malaysia. They supplement existing routes to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Khartoum, Dubai, Nairobi, Bangalore,Chennai, Lahore and Dhaka.
The cargo carrier recently took delivery of its third A300-600F, but will have to wait nearly two years until the next dedicated freighter joins its network when it takes delivery of the fi rst of twoBoeing 777 freighters in 2009.
“However we do have an extensive belly network in our passenger fl eet that is constantly growing,’’ Batten added. Qatar added 11 wide-body passenger aircraft to its fl eet in 2006, boosting belly capacity available for freight by about 50 per cent.
“Later this year we take delivery of our fi rst B-777 passenger aircraft, which will support our cargo aspirations until the dedicated freighters arrive.”
If there is a problem for Qatar, it’s one of too much business. Congestion at the current Doha International Airport has strained capacity while the new airport, expected to open in 2009, is being built.
Helping to alleviate the problem, the cargo division expanded its warehouse facilities at Doha airport, creating a 40 per cent increase in space and includes a new import and export warehouse, cold storage and freezer facilities.
– Donald Urquhart