Page 23 - STAT June 2023 Latest Issue

going down but it is normalising which is
going to happen at some point.”
She also mentioned that the Calgary,
Alberta-based airline tailored the freighter
schedule in a way that it can tap into
point-to-point domestic traffic but it also
assists in optimising the wide-body belly.
During her keynote at a panel discus-
sion at air cargo Europe (May 9-12, 2023),
de Bruijn delved deep into the operational
challenges in Canada.
Canadians really “WestJet invested in four B737 freighters.
Canada is twice the size of the European
don't want speed. Union and you think it would make sense.
They don't care But it is not that easy to start an airline in
this market specifically because there are
about speed. They so many aircraft on order or in some cases
certain airlines are de-ordering.”
want reliability. They Talking about the nature of e-commerce
just want to know ordering in Canada, with which she is
trying to fill the freighters, she noted that
when their cargo “Canadians really don't want speed. They
don't care about speed. They want reli-
comes. ability. They just want to know when their
cargo comes. So the business model that
Kirsten de Bruijn we are following right now is on-time per-
WestJet
formance and quality rather than speed.”
that could lead to looser monetary poli- Another airline that is trying to expand its
cies that might stimulate demand is un- freighter network is Air Canada Cargo. The
clear. The resilience that got the air cargo airline already operates six B767 freighters,
industry through the Covid-19 crisis is also two of which were received in May 2023. It
critical in the aftermath," he said. recently added Punta Cana in the Domini-
For instance, all major airlines in the can Republic to its worldwide freighter net-
Americas reported a decrease in cargo work, following services to San José, Basel,
revenues in the first quarter of 2023 Liege, Dallas, Atlanta and Bogota.
ended in March including United Airlines Janet Wallace, managing director, cargo
(36 percent), American Airlines (38 operations & transformation, Air Canada,
percent), Delta Air Lines (28 percent), Air in a recent interview with The STAT Trade
Canada (40 percent) and LATAM Airlines Times, said, “The freighters really change
(12 percent). our network. We will end this year with
Indeed, there is anxiety around the seven B767 freighters and next year with
constantly changing market trajectory. nine B767s. This will help us to change our
For example, Kirsten de Bruijn, executive offerings with North America, Europe and
vice president cargo at the Canadian Latin America. Next year we will have two
airline WestJet, opined that if the launch Boeing 777 freighters. This will allow us to
And more recently while mentioning of their freighters had been one year better serve the transpacific.”
the third week of May 2023, WorldACD before they would have been with little “We look to operate these freighters
reported double-digit percent decreases less anxiety than today. across the equator because the production
in year-on-year (YoY) tonnages ex-North WestJet Cargo and the GTA Group of perishables is almost seasonless there. It
America (16 percent) as a notable change. inaugurated the launch of three 737-800 happens all year round,” she added.
Even as global air cargo industry capac- Boeing Converted Freighters in Toronto She also noted that the airline has
ity surpassed the pre-Covid-19 level for in April 2023. been working for a couple of years to
the first time, IATA’s Director General Willie In an interview before the freighter build an e-commerce business nationally
Walsh noted that the demand environ- launch to The STAT Trade Times’ Cargo across Canada.
ment is challenging to read. Masterminds series, she said, “We under- “We are working very closely with soft-
“Tapering inflation is definitely a posi- stand that it is a competitive landscape ware development companies because
tive. But the degree and speed at which that we are starting in. The market is not they are key in e-commerce handling as

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