Qatar Airways Cargo now No.3 and set to deliver an enhanced level of service
AirCargo archive stories #239
Wednesday, 04 November 2015
Akbar Al Baker, group chief executive of Qatar Airways (pictured), is understandably chuffed – in the polite, aristocratic manner that has always been his trademark - that the carrier has hit the top three of international air cargo operations.
He’s determined Qatar Airways Cargo will remain – forever – high on the rankings determined by IATA’s FTK figures, but there’s a twist.
Al Baker doesn’t care deeply if the airline he has done so much to create and build exponentially year by year makes it to #1.
Far better, he said at an international media briefing timed to announce several new developments and fortuitously coinciding with the IATA news, to deliver non-stop good value to customers, meeting their needs and budgets by being efficient and providing the aircraft, product and ground infrastructure to ensure this can be sustained.
“Becoming #1 doesn’t really interest us,” he said. “Our quality of service surpasses #1 and #2. We simply want to be #1 in customer service.”
The way Qatar Airways Cargo is heading, however, suggests that while service will undoubtedly remain its core, further growth is inevitable.
For this group, cargo is very, very important although earnings are also strong from passenger traffic, one of the world’s most innovative and successful travel retail (duty free) operations and a wealth of other services.
“Our cargo capability is a major component in driving our group success and growth,” said Al Baker. “It will remain a focus of our expansion in the coming years.”
The briefing at Doha’s new Hamad International Airport – which includes the existing QR cargo terminal and nearby site of a massive new terminal to be operational by 2018 – launched a portfolio of new cargo products and enhancements to others, along with an indication of further freighter deliveries.
More routes are also being readied, all carrying freight whether in belly-holds or on the super-efficient freighter fleet. It’s “the new norm,” Al Baker suggested. Legacy carriers will have to change if they want to catch up and some might not make it at all, he implies.
The new Qatar Airways Cargo products include QR Equine and QR Express, both building on existing services by broadening the customer offer, adding specialist staff and allocating management/marketing resources.
QR Equine will make more use of Qatar Airways Cargo’s sophisticated and airy live animal facility at HIA, recognising that thoroughbred purchases are growing in Qatar and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Specialist horse handling staff are being recruited to join the facility’s current vets – two of whom are on duty at all times.
With QR Express, Al Baker explained the carrier was introducing a simplified system with high boarding priority and rapid handling, guaranteeing speedy delivery. Features include short and flexible close-outs, quick ramp transfer for transit express and speedy retrieval at final destination.
Network expansion ...
As already reported, Sydney will make its network debut on March 1 and Adelaide on May 2; both will be daily.
Other new ports to be launched in the next few months include Nagpur, Durban and Ras Al Khaimah. Birmingham has just been announced as a further UK port from March 30 2016, joining London Heathrow, Manchester and Edinburgh.
And freighter ports are also increasing, notably in India.
Another Qatar Airways Cargo product, QR Pharma continues to expand as further ports on the global network are certified as being fully compliant with the needs of this exacting but profitable sector.
More freighters are on the way late this year and then deliveries are spread throughout 2016, Al Baker noted. The current freighter fleet stands at 15: Six A332, eight B772 and one leased B744 that handles oversize cargo and is facilitating growth of the carrier’s charter product. Further freighters are on order, along with some options.
The seventh and eighth A332F aircraft will arrive in December this year and next March respectively, while the B772F fleet will have its ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th deliveries in June, July and October 2016, then March 17.
That will bring the total freighter fleet to 21 by 2017. An impressive 11-stand flight line outside the current terminal is already very busy but efficiencies are such that turnaround is rapid and even the bigger fleet will cause little over-crowding.
Al Baker didn’t want to specify longer-term freighter acquisitions and deliveries.
The new cargo terminal will be close to the existing facility which has an annual capacity of 1.4 million tonnes. Its 110,000sqm multi-deck layout will allow handling of up to three million tonnes annually.
“Having the ability to handle 4.4 million tonnes of cargo a year will put Qatar Airways Cargo into another league and enhance the efficiency and service already offered,” said Ulrich Ogiermann, chief officer cargo.
Al Baker nodded. The cargoport would not be standing still even then, he mused. More expansion was inevitable as the airline and its home port thrived together.
Doha would be a huge cargo hub, he pointed out, talking of a possible seven million tonnes throughput. “I don’t think there will be any other airport with a cargo capacity likely to reach that.”
B744 for oversize cargo and extra charter capacity Qatar Airways Cargo is focused on two types of freighter, the A332 and B772. That won’t change, said group chief executive Akbar Al Baker. But a B744 freighter in all-white livery is also to be seen on the cargo terminal stands at Hamad International Airport.
Leased from Turkish operator MyCargo Airlines it was introduced in August for two reasons, explained Al Akbar: To give the company oversized cargo capabilities and to add more flexibility in the charter market, given that most of QR’s freighter fleet is heavily committed to line-haul operations.
Not having oversize capacity “gave opportunities for competitors to fill,” said Al Baker.
The current aircraft is a BCF side-loader but it will be replaced shortly by an ERF nose-loader, also from MyCargo. This will deliver even more scope for QR Charter.
“Qatar Airways Cargo is experiencing increased worldwide demand for quality charter services as well as growing local demand with significant infrastructure projects under way in Qatar that require outsized cargo capacity,” noted Ulrich Ogiermann, chief cargo officer.
On the web: www.qrcargo.com
Qatar Airways Cargo now No.3 and set to deliver an enhanced level of service
AirCargo archive stories #239
Wednesday, 04 November 2015
Akbar Al Baker, group chief executive of Qatar Airways (pictured), is understandably chuffed – in the polite, aristocratic manner that has always been his trademark - that the carrier has hit the top three of international air cargo operations.
He’s determined Qatar Airways Cargo will remain – forever – high on the rankings determined by IATA’s FTK figures, but there’s a twist.
Al Baker doesn’t care deeply if the airline he has done so much to create and build exponentially year by year makes it to #1.
Far better, he said at an international media briefing timed to announce several new developments and fortuitously coinciding with the IATA news, to deliver non-stop good value to customers, meeting their needs and budgets by being efficient and providing the aircraft, product and ground infrastructure to ensure this can be sustained.
“Becoming #1 doesn’t really interest us,” he said. “Our quality of service surpasses #1 and #2. We simply want to be #1 in customer service.”
The way Qatar Airways Cargo is heading, however, suggests that while service will undoubtedly remain its core, further growth is inevitable.
For this group, cargo is very, very important although earnings are also strong from passenger traffic, one of the world’s most innovative and successful travel retail (duty free) operations and a wealth of other services.
“Our cargo capability is a major component in driving our group success and growth,” said Al Baker. “It will remain a focus of our expansion in the coming years.”
The briefing at Doha’s new Hamad International Airport – which includes the existing QR cargo terminal and nearby site of a massive new terminal to be operational by 2018 – launched a portfolio of new cargo products and enhancements to others, along with an indication of further freighter deliveries.
More routes are also being readied, all carrying freight whether in belly-holds or on the super-efficient freighter fleet. It’s “the new norm,” Al Baker suggested. Legacy carriers will have to change if they want to catch up and some might not make it at all, he implies.
The new Qatar Airways Cargo products include QR Equine and QR Express, both building on existing services by broadening the customer offer, adding specialist staff and allocating management/marketing resources.
QR Equine will make more use of Qatar Airways Cargo’s sophisticated and airy live animal facility at HIA, recognising that thoroughbred purchases are growing in Qatar and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Specialist horse handling staff are being recruited to join the facility’s current vets – two of whom are on duty at all times.
With QR Express, Al Baker explained the carrier was introducing a simplified system with high boarding priority and rapid handling, guaranteeing speedy delivery. Features include short and flexible close-outs, quick ramp transfer for transit express and speedy retrieval at final destination.
Network expansion ...
As already reported, Sydney will make its network debut on March 1 and Adelaide on May 2; both will be daily.
Other new ports to be launched in the next few months include Nagpur, Durban and Ras Al Khaimah. Birmingham has just been announced as a further UK port from March 30 2016, joining London Heathrow, Manchester and Edinburgh.
And freighter ports are also increasing, notably in India.
Another Qatar Airways Cargo product, QR Pharma continues to expand as further ports on the global network are certified as being fully compliant with the needs of this exacting but profitable sector.
More freighters are on the way late this year and then deliveries are spread throughout 2016, Al Baker noted. The current freighter fleet stands at 15: Six A332, eight B772 and one leased B744 that handles oversize cargo and is facilitating growth of the carrier’s charter product. Further freighters are on order, along with some options.
The seventh and eighth A332F aircraft will arrive in December this year and next March respectively, while the B772F fleet will have its ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th deliveries in June, July and October 2016, then March 17.
That will bring the total freighter fleet to 21 by 2017. An impressive 11-stand flight line outside the current terminal is already very busy but efficiencies are such that turnaround is rapid and even the bigger fleet will cause little over-crowding.
Al Baker didn’t want to specify longer-term freighter acquisitions and deliveries.
The new cargo terminal will be close to the existing facility which has an annual capacity of 1.4 million tonnes. Its 110,000sqm multi-deck layout will allow handling of up to three million tonnes annually.
“Having the ability to handle 4.4 million tonnes of cargo a year will put Qatar Airways Cargo into another league and enhance the efficiency and service already offered,” said Ulrich Ogiermann, chief officer cargo.
Al Baker nodded. The cargoport would not be standing still even then, he mused. More expansion was inevitable as the airline and its home port thrived together.
Doha would be a huge cargo hub, he pointed out, talking of a possible seven million tonnes throughput. “I don’t think there will be any other airport with a cargo capacity likely to reach that.”
B744 for oversize cargo and extra charter capacity Qatar Airways Cargo is focused on two types of freighter, the A332 and B772. That won’t change, said group chief executive Akbar Al Baker. But a B744 freighter in all-white livery is also to be seen on the cargo terminal stands at Hamad International Airport.
Leased from Turkish operator MyCargo Airlines it was introduced in August for two reasons, explained Al Akbar: To give the company oversized cargo capabilities and to add more flexibility in the charter market, given that most of QR’s freighter fleet is heavily committed to line-haul operations.
Not having oversize capacity “gave opportunities for competitors to fill,” said Al Baker.
The current aircraft is a BCF side-loader but it will be replaced shortly by an ERF nose-loader, also from MyCargo. This will deliver even more scope for QR Charter.
“Qatar Airways Cargo is experiencing increased worldwide demand for quality charter services as well as growing local demand with significant infrastructure projects under way in Qatar that require outsized cargo capacity,” noted Ulrich Ogiermann, chief cargo officer.
Akbar Al Baker, group chief executive of Qatar Airways (pictured), is understandably chuffed – in the polite, aristocratic manner that has always been his trademark - that the carrier has hit the top three of international air cargo operations.
