Page 20 - The STAT Trade Times September 2022 Issue

industryreport

MIXED SIGNALS FOR CARGO

CHARTER OPERATIONS

Once in huge demand and commanding premium prices due to the lockdown and reduced
capacities, cargo charter business is back to normalcy… or near about it. Challenges abound in the
space but it is also attracting new players. So, what’s happening here? Here’s a lowdown.

Jyothi Shankaran

he pandemic period has brought nario - the passenger to freighter aircraft
into focus another business for - and we worked on literally thousands of
airlines and freight forwarders P2F flights throughout the pandemic. We
T- cargo charters. While charter filled up those aircraft, say from China to
business was always a part of operations, Europe or China to the United States,
the Covid period pushed chartering to with commercial cargo as well as with
the centre stage as passenger planes were Covid-related cargo. That was a real
grounded, shipping faced blockages and game changer for the industry. It
demand zoomed for all products. kept the airlines flying and the
"Globally, the air cargo industry has crews employed, and it really
really been put on the world map," says helped the supply chain,
Neil Dursley, Group Chief Commercial Of- which was under huge
ficer, Cargo Solutions, Chapman Freeborn. In 2019, we constraints and restric-
"At Chapman Freeborn, we are heavily recorded 210 full- tions. It also helped the
involved on a global scale in supporting ocean freight busi-
governments around the world. During charter freight flights. ness, as ports were
the pandemic, firstly it was in the move- shut down because
ments of PPE and then vaccines to multi- In 2020, it was 2,100 of Covid, which
ple countries and multiple continents. and then in 2021, DB created huge
"Previously, there were the traditional issues with cargo
freighter operators including our in-house Schenker had as many and staffing.
airline Magma Aviation in conjunction "In 2022, as
with Air Atlanta Icelandic. But what we saw as 2333 full-charter the pandemic
in the pandemic was the grounding of the flights. got under con-
passenger aircraft and, for survival, those trol with vacci-
passenger airlines modified their aircraft Asok Kumar nations across
by removing seats. This was the P2F sce- DB Schenker the globe, the

18 | SEPTEMBER 2022 www.stattimes.com