Podcast: Norbert Onkelbach on air cargo growth potential at Lima’s new airport

Lima Airport Partners Chief Commercial Officer Norbert Onkelbach expects his new facility to expand its air cargo market share, he says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.” Onkelbach sat down with Cargo Facts at the IATA World Cargo Symposium in Lima, Peru, this week to discuss the capabilities of Jorge Chavez International Airport (LIM), which “has undergone a significant expansion, increasing its land area from 270 hectares to 940 hectares,” he says. The construction was backed by Germany-based global airport operator Fraport, which acquired an 80% stake in Lima Airport Partners in 2001. While Onkelbach says he sees “increasing e-commerce interest from all over the world,” LIM is “exporting more than 60% in perishables, blueberries, avocados and, increasingly, mangoes.” Lima Airport Partners may consider developing a direct cargo corridor between LIM and Peru’s seaport, Onkelbach says. “We see another opportunity, as our location of the airport is just about eight kilometers from the seaport, to basically, in the future, develop concepts to integrate seafreight and airfreight.” Onkelbach hopes to secure the support of the federal and provincial governments of Peru to create special economic zones that will attract investors to the project. Tune in to this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear Onkelbach discuss Lima Airport Partners’ plans for LIM and share his outlook of the industry with Senior Associate Editor Robert Luke. A transcript is available below. This transcript has been generated by software and some transcription errors may remain. Robert Luke Hello and welcome to another episode of Cargo Facts Connect, the podcast of cargo facts and the newsletter of record for of the aircraft, freighter and cargo industries for over 40 years. I’m Senior Associate Editor Robert Luke, and it’s Friday, March 13th. I've just returned from the IATA World Cargo Symposium, which took place in Lima, Peru, this week. During the event, I sat down with Norbert Onkelbach, chief commercial officer of Lima Airport Partners, the airport's operator of which Germany-based Fraport is a majority shareholder. In today's episode, Onkelbach discusses the newly constructed Lima Airport and his outlook on the air cargo industry. Take a listen. Robert Luke Hello, Norbert. Thank you for joining us today and welcome. Norbert Onkelbach Thank you very much for the opportunity. Robert Luke Great, if you would please tell us a little bit about yourself and why Lima International Airport is now able to play a key role in the cargo industry. Norbert Onkelbach Again, my name is Norbert, Uncle Bach. I'm the CCO of Lima airport partners, which is a company that belongs to Frankfurt Airport company Fraport, AG, and we have in the last eight years, planned a new airport, which we have, which we have opened last year, in June. It is a brownfield development. I mean, we still at the same location like before. Before we opened the new airport, we had 270 hectares of land, and now we have 940 hectares of land. Our obligation, as a privatized concession was to build a new tower, a new runway and a new terminal, which we opened last year in June. It has 270,000 square meters and now a 40 million passenger capacity per year, and that gives us ample capacity on the runways, in the terminal and also in cargo. Robert Luke Norbert, that's quite an accomplishment, and congratulations on that to you and your team. Where do you see the biggest operational challenges in the global air cargo system today, and how can the industry address them? Norbert Onkelbach I think it's a very moment where we are we see the negative effect of the Iran war at the moment and the increase of fuel prices, which may make it hard to compete when it comes to import and export, also via the Middle East, in the air freight sector, we need to observe and look at the data. What is it developing? But right now, I'm concerned about this one the most. Robert Luke What are some of your concerns in regards to that beyond what you've just mentioned, can you get a little particular on some points that you think you should definitely keep a keen eye on? Norbert Onkelbach Well fuel price is one of course, the major business that we all in is markets, export and import between two countries or major markets. Looking at it from a Latin American perspective. We are speaking here for Peru. Peru in cargo, in air cargo is exporting more than 60% in our exports in perishables, blueberries, avocados, and increasingly, mangoes. We're an exporting country, asparagus, traditionally as well import. On the importing side, we see increasing e commerce interest from all over the world, so that is basically our market to observe to work at. We negotiated a contract with a new warehouse, which Cosco has contracted at this airport. And so we see that more stakeholders are looking for import and export into Peru. We see another opportunity as our location of the airport is just like something like eight kilometers from the seaport to basically, in the future, develop contract concepts to integrate sea freight and air freight. We see the opportunity to do that basically in special economic zones that we are looking for. Of course, that needs like planning, and it needs investors, and again, it needs an active market development, let's say for this one we are seeking, and we are happy to work with the government, the federal government, as much as the provincial government, in order to develop these concepts further, to give the right legal platform and to attract, in the end, investors. Robert Luke If you know off the top of your head, what percentage of your air cargo volumes are potentially disrupted by this conflict that actually transitioned from that Middle East sector? Norbert Onkelbach Last year we had 267,000 tons. From the export segment, most of our air freight goes to North America. Our first port of entry is Miami. That's a strategic entry point for freight from South America. We have cargo that goes into the bellies of our large, long haul aircraft into Europe. I do not see that under threat from from an exportation factor. We have not. Had any indications or cancelations from cargo operators so far, but we need to see what that means in the end for the product, which is in the end in the share of the consumer. Robert Luke Thank you for sharing that. Norbert, I'm going to transition now, okay, and we're going to talk a little bit about our favorite segment, which is being discussed in a panel right now, how should airports and cargo hubs evolve to accommodate growth in E commerce and time critical shipments in 2026? Norbert Onkelbach I think it's not only 26 it's a process that starts in 26 and needs to go forward. It means, for me, it's integration and collaboration between stakeholders. We need to, we need to open our doors in all places, not only, let's say in places where we have mega hubs, like, let's say Miami, Atlanta or Frankfurt or Amsterdam, we need to make sure that we integrate the processes we open ourselves up to look for efficiencies critically, ask ourselves what roles the digitalization can play. What role can AI play quickly, or, let's say, on a short, on a short, but also on a medium term. And I believe cargo and logistics is very integrated process. So we mustn't forget about the medium term, long term. Today, I find is a very long, like five year period ahead of you, but I think we should look into the next three years starting from now. And we need to ask ourselves also here in Lima, how do we bring our community together to look for efficiency? Because I go back to what I said earlier, we need to understand the effects if a customer is paying more for, let's say, 200 grams of blueberries from Peru, and if that increases due to the fuel price by 20% what can we do when we look at processes and reduce it by 10% so I believe that conversation needs to start basically at every hub or every airport that is cargo driven in order to find local solutions. Robert Luke Okay, so identifying ways to balance out the cost as they continue to increase. From a local localization standpoint. Norbert Onkelbach Yes. Robert Luke Okay, I could definitely receive that. Thank you for sharing. My next question for you, Norbert, is, what steps can the cargo industry take to accelerate the adoption of sustainable aviation fuel while keeping operations economically viable? Norbert Onkelbach I believe it's part of the major global industry. Same for passenger traffic and cargo traffic. From my end, I don't make a differentiation. Of course, we have cargo fleets or sole freighters, but we also know that more than half of the freight is flown in bellies, which are passenger aircraft. And in the end, I believe we need to follow I buy into the idea of the European Union to accelerate the use of Saf, sustainable aviation fuel. It means globally, speaking for Latin America, speaking for our area that we trade in to follow this and encourage our governments to also develop policies and initiatives to do the same. Robert Luke That sounds like a great plan to follow, right there. Norbert, and my last question for you is, as we close out, name the top two or three things that you feel must be addressed or improved this year to move the industry forward. Norbert Onkelbach I think it's collaboration. There are good examples of this already in the cargo industry. I think it's actually a leading example for many other industries, how it can integrate and lead. Digitalization is being discussed at this conference a lot. I think we need to open the discussion who pays for it? That's something we must address. We must be in our tradition, open and honest to each other and find solutions and sometimes go a way that is a bit uncertain or new for us. I believe our job is always as airport manages to enter the arena with the curiosity for the future, taking risk entrepreneurial decisions to move forward, and that means some more risk sharing and understanding where airlines fly, but also how airports develop their rates in order to refinance The investments that we do for the International cargo infrastructure. Robert Luke And on that note, Norbert, I thank you for your time. I thank you for your insights, and we look forward to working with you all in the future and the continued development of the Lima International Airport in the cargo sector. Norbert Onkelbach It will be my pleasure. Robert Luke That was Lima Airport Partners Chief Commercial Officer Norbert Onkelbach, talking with me live at the IATA World Cargo Symposium in Peru. And that’s all the time we have today. For more coverage of the freighter aircraft market, visit cargofacts.com. Thank you very much for tuning in, and join us again next time. Subscribe to Cargo Facts Connect on iTunes or Spotify , or download the episode on Transistor . Cargo Facts will present four invaluable events for airfreight professionals in 2026, the next of which is <a style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://cargofactsevents.com/asia/?utm_campaign=22235567-CF%20Asia%202026&utm_source=Editorial&utm_medium=article%20event%20footer&utm_term=CF%20website&utm_content=Learn%20More&utm_source=Weekly+Update+-+Cargo+Facts&utm_campaign=fbe548904b-CF+Update_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_621baa6827-fbe548904b-40083601&mc_cid=fbe548904b&mc_eid=adbe8bb0b4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cargo Facts Asia on March 23-25. To see the agendas and register for the events, visit CargoFactsEvents.com .

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