APA Issue 1, 2021
GOLD IN THE HOLD Its chief officer for cargo, Guillaume Halleux, tells us more about the airport facilities, fleet and route network that make Qatar Airways one of the world’s biggest cargo airlines. HOW IMPORTANT IS CARGO TO QATAR AIRWAYS? The cargo division is a significant contributor to the airline’s revenue and overall business, and this has been growing each year. Our current global market, as of January 2021, is 8.95%, according to IATA. Based on cargo tonne kilometres (CTKs) growth (YTD Jan 2021), we are up by 18.3%, this is a great indication of our growth and support by customers. HOW MANY TONNES OF FREIGHT DO YOU HANDLE ANNUALLY AND HOW MUCH OF THIS IS CARRIED BY FREIGHTERS? Cargo handled each year is growing. For the calendar year 2020, our tonnage increased by 4% compared to 2019. In 2019, the split between belly-hold and freighter was 52% and 48%, but this changed during the pandemic in 2020, where cargo flown on freighters increased to 55% while belly-hold split was at 45%. In fact, during January 2021, 61% of Qatar Airways Cargo’s capacity was aboard dedicated freighters while 39% was on passenger aircraft. Quite a turnaround.
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WHAT ARE YOUR TOP FIVE CARGO ROUTES TODAY IN TERMS OF VOLUMES? Our top five origin stations (freighter and belly-hold) in terms of tonnage for 2020 are Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Shanghai and Oslo. The top five destinations (freighter and belly-hold) are Doha, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London Heathrow and Chicago. Our top five routes in 2020 in terms of volumes are Hong Kong-Amsterdam, Hong Kong-London Heathrow, Amsterdam-Doha, Beirut-Doha and Hong Kong-Frankfurt. CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR CARGO FACILITIES AT HAMAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT? On an average day this March, we had 140 to 150 cargo flights (freighters, mini freighters and passenger freighters) and utilised different types of airplanes such as the Boeing 747-8F, Boeing 777F, B777-300 mini freighters, passenger freighters and Airbus and Boeing passenger flights, all with varying capacities. Our entire cargo complex area at Hamad International Airport covers 292,000sqm where we have parking facilities capable of simultaneously accommodating 11 freighters.
