DREW: CARGO NOW HAS A SEAT AT THE TABLE

Martin Drew, SVP global sales and cargo, Etihad Airways is a personable business executive who can barely contain his excitement when he describes his role at the airline. In fact, his keenness is doubled as he heads up both freight and passenger sales operations. As the cargo division of the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Aviation Group, the operation provides cargo and air freighter solutions around the world from its Middle Eastern hub.

As an 18-year veteran of the airline, Drew headed his team at transport logistic ’23 in Munich. They attended the four-day air cargo Europe event this month and were very happy with the market’s reaction to the physical business event being held again after four years.

“We had thirty meetings with major global accounts at Munich. We are very pleased with the reaction we’ve had,” said Drew.

Now that the pandemic has eased, Drew can reflect on whether there has been any impact on airfreight, in the Middle East or globally, going forward. Indeed, in his opinion freight has undergone what he has described as a “reboot”.

Prior to the pandemic, airfreight was considered a poor cousin in the aviation industry, Drew believes that the transport of millions of dollars of PPE, vital life-saving medical equipment and the Covid vaccines gave the freight arm of many airlines, including Etihad Airways, a higher profile than it had ever had.

Not only did the revenues created by the freight department often replace the lost income from the grounded passengers, but suddenly the very actions of moving freight by air came into the limelight. Cargo in cabins, ‘preighters’, newspaper images of seats in cabins filled with packages showed many even in the passenger side of the aviation business the importance of cargo.

He says: “Cargo now has a seat at the table.”

This is demonstrated by the fact that passenger sales staff have switched to selling cargo capacity. Pre-pandemic, they would have sold passenger seats and dismissed freight sales. During the pandemic airfreight stole headlines around the world, as well in the Middle East. Some members of staff on the passenger side realised that selling seats is a slow-burn activity, dealing and developing long-term relationships with corporate clients, ticket agents, the travel industry.

Freight is a much more active sell, with quick responses to customer demand from forwarders and shippers.

Exciting times

According to Drew, he and his cargo sales staff are working in an exciting time for airfreight sales. To demonstrate his enthusiasm for the air cargo reboot he feels exists, he would be exceedingly happy if his children demonstrated any interest in joining their father in airfreight.

There is also the small matter of a tranche of seven A350 freighters due to join the Etihad Airways fleet in the near future to excite him. These are set to join the airline’s existing five B777 freighters. In fact, the airline’s current fleet of 66 passenger and five freighter aircraft means it has one of the youngest in the world, averaging 6.2 years of age. The new acquisition is only likely to reduce this age further.

From its hub in Abu Dhabi, the airline’s global network reaches across Africa, America, Asia, Australia, Europe and the Middle East.

As well as the new aircraft, Drew is in the hot seat as the reboot continues in 2023. In just the first five months of the year, the cargo operation has: launched an innovative artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solution to transform airfreight operations and boost cargo capacity on flights; achieved a major milestone in its sustainability journey, achieving advanced ratings for key criteria in the BlueSky Sustainability Verification Programme assessment; partnered with Rotate to co-develop a sales optimisation tool to identify sales initiatives; added a fourth gateway destination to its Chinese network with the introduction of weekly flights to Wuhan Tianhe.

The airline also: reinforced its commitment to the Chinese market with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China’s SF Airlines; announced the introduction of two new routes from its Abu Dhabi hub to Copenhagen in Denmark and Düsseldorf in Germany; signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Astral Aviation to expand their partnership and enhance the co-operation between Abu Dhabi and Nairobi; co-hosted the highly anticipated World Cargo Summit 2023; and, announced it would further reinforce its commitment to the US market with the introduction of an additional three weekly flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).