Airfreight demand, infrastructure key to route strategy

Top considerations when planning new freighter routes include shifting markets and demand, as well as airport infrastructure. Cargo leaders from Turkish Airlines and Emirates SkyCargo agree that implementing routes is a matter of addressing new trends in a timely manner while taking the necessary time to consider a new route from every angle. [caption id="attachment_57291842" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Emirates flies to more than 130 destinations overall. (Courtesy/Emirates)[/caption] “We do profitability and feasibility [studies] with dozens of parameters,” Oguzhan Cerrah, vice president of cargo network planning and development at Turkish Airlines, said during the webinar “ Air cargo route networks : Strategies for improved results and greater efficiencies,” presented Sept. 16 by Cargo Facts . “ Freighter capacity is extremely valuable and it is expensive ... so efficiency is a key factor.” View the full webinar here. “It's a serious decision to start a new route or to end one.” — Oguzhan Cerrah, vice president of cargo network planning and development at Turkish Airlines Airlines must also consider their existing routes to ensure a new route brings maximum benefits. “We could be operating a route because it fits well within our network, i.e. connects multiple O&Ds [origins and destinations],” Nadeem Sultan, senior vice president of freighters and cargo planning at Emirates SkyCargo, said on the webinar. “Perhaps the volumes per O&D are small. But, for an airline like ourselves — with more than 130 destinations — small tonnages from each destination add up very quickly.” Keeping pace with changing demand Turkish Airlines has increased freighter frequencies in Asia since the pandemic, responding to growth in the region’s e-commerce market , Cerrah said. “With the e-commerce demand expansion, the requirements of capacity out of the East have increased,” he said. “You have to make a balance and decrease some capacities’ frequencies in contrast, especially in the West.” Emirates SkyCargo looks to its customers to determine where demand is and where the airline needs to adjust its operations, Sultan said. Emirates has similarly been seeing increased e-commerce demand out of Asia . “E-commerce has been driving quite a bit of our network decisions.” — Nadeem Sultan, senior vice president of freighters and cargo planning at Emirates SkyCargo “There are also big shippers, big forwarders, that need dedicated, specific airfreight capacity on certain O&Ds because maybe they have their own global logistics centers in those places,” Sultan said. “And those don’t always have to be the traditional large cargo airports. It can be secondary airports .” Airport infrastructure When an airline sees demand in a certain region, it does not necessarily mean that region’s airports have the infrastructure required to meet that demand. “What we don't want is for us to land and cargo to be sitting unnecessarily long at an airport,” Sultan said. “Going to an airport that doesn't have the right handling capacity doesn't really add value.” Necessary airport infrastructure can include facilities for specialized cargo, such as live animals and pharmaceuticals with specific temperature requirements, as well as sufficient trucking access and facilities, Sultan said. “In Europe, a big chunk of our cargo needs to be trucked beyond the airport,” Sultan said. “If there is not a quick and efficient trucking solution, then that also prohibits the use of the airport.” Airport congestion and slot constraints can also deter airlines from a certain hub, even if it is in a central location, Cerrah said. Cargo Facts Symposium, the quintessential event for stakeholders and key leaders in the global freighter and air cargo industries, will take place Oct. 22-24 at the Grand Hyatt in Nashville . Learn more and register today to attend this key industry event. Cargo Facts LATAM 2026, the essential event for stakeholders in Latin America, will take place Feb. 10-12 at the Marquis Reforma in Mexico City. Learn more and register by Dec. 19 to take advantage of early-bird pricing.

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