Cargo Chat: Magma Aviation’s Conor Brannigan on network strategy, perishables growth

Managing a fleet of large, widebody freighters is sometimes a mixed blessing for operators. On the one hand, the aircraft are ideal for many oversized or heavy cargo shipments that could otherwise take weeks or months to move by ocean. On the other hand, when ocean is heavily favored as a mode, operators might struggle to fill aircraft to capacity, which is a problem not typically faced by narrowbody freighters with smaller payloads. That has changed since 2020, however, thanks to sky-high airfreight rates and an outsized reliance on freighters. [caption id="attachment_97150" align="alignright" width="450"] Conor Brannigan, Chief Executive Officer, Magma Aviation (Photo: Magma Aviation)[/caption] United Kingdom-based Magma Aviation, an Avia Solutions Group subsidiary that manages widebody freighter capacity for five 747-400 freighters operated by Air Atlanta Icelandic and Atlas Air, had carved out a niche for itself in the widebody freighter space even before the market turned to heavily favor freighter operators. The company has a history of moving automotive, perishable and outsized cargo, as well as arranging for cargo charters, and has seen demand grow in its existing markets during the pandemic. Leadership at Magma Aviation recently underwent a shift, as well. Conor Brannigan, who has a history with all-747F operator Cargolux as well as with combination carrier Etihad, joined the business in July 2021 as Deputy CEO and was appointed as CEO during the fourth quarter. While his role at Magma has some parallels with his former experience at Cargolux and Etihad in terms of global freighter operations, the smaller scale of Magma Aviation has allowed him to step away from the siloed approach of a larger organization and engage with a more hands-on team as Magma expands its business. Air Cargo World spoke with Brannigan to learn more about how Magma Aviation is approaching its operations during the pandemic and which commodities present near-term potential for further growth. Air Cargo World: How has network planning changed as the pandemic has progressed? Your network includes airports like Los Angeles (LAX) and Hong Kong (HKG), which have faced congestion issues or quarantine requirements. Are you thinking about any alternative gateways? Conor Brannigan: We listen to our customers, and we're open to new airports. We actually are in Hong Kong once a week as a scheduled operation … and we do some charter operations. I've actually got a charter that left [Jan. 13]. But it’s extremely complicated at the moment, Hong Kong, because of crew restrictions, etc. So we’re at five stations in the U.S., multiple stations in Africa, we're in Mumbai. And absolutely, no, we are open to more destinations. But right now, we kind of contract on a long-term basis for a lot of our customers to the airports we fly to on an ad hoc basis. We will operate into different airports if it makes sense, operation and commercial, etc. And if we got more aircraft into the fleet, there's a good opportunity to expand the network footprint. ACW: What strategies have you found to be successful in keeping cargo handling to a reasonable time frame, given the slowdowns we've seen especially in the U.S., but also in Europe? CB: There's no strategy other than trying to be on time, so try and arrive when you say you would arrive and try to depart when you say you will. Giving you a Chicago example, not to throw Chicago under the bus, if we say we’re going to have a midday Zulu (UTC) arrival then we land four hours later, Chicago Airport will turn around and say, “Well, tough, we don't have another slot for another eight hours.” All of a sudden that four-hour delay snowballed into a 12-hour delay, and then down the line, you're going to have the same issue at the next airport you go to, possibly. We try to run out a schedule that’s on time, which is extremely difficult, because trucking is an issue in Europe, so delayed trucks, that means the cargo is delayed, the airport is delayed getting processed, by that time loaders, for instance, may have gone to another aircraft. So [cargo is] sitting by the aircraft side with just one thing after the other. For us to try and ensure a seamless, efficient network which will obviously benefit our customers and partners is that we try to be on time all the time, effectively, but you know, that’s not so easy f in the current environment. ACW: There are a few types of cargo commodities you’ve focused on, including perishables, automotive and outsized cargo. Africa is a major perishables export market and your network there is significant. Have you seen that business grow recently? CB: We have indeed seen the perishable exports [grow] out of Africa, they have been a real success, actually. And the team long before I joined worked extremely hard there to develop that — they've got good relationships with all the key forwarders there, and even the growers and the farmers, etc. We have four flights a week now operating from Nairobi (NBO) to Liege (LGG) and they've been a real success. And you know, coming up to Valentine's Day, we'll put in some incremental capacity to meet the demand there. But that's been really successful and that's for I think most airlines, it's the gateway out of Africa, really, because of the lack of export markets in the region. And also, belly capacity is hindered because of the pandemic, obviously, [which] increases the demand on the freighter aircraft as well. We were at one point at 3 flights a week, I think at the start of the year [2021], but now it's come up to four, so it's been a real success for us. ACW: Has the charter share of your business grown during the past year, or are you trying to reserve more capacity for your existing network? CB: Charter demand absolutely has grown for us. We tend to focus on the scheduled network, but we do leave gaps for charter work, which is the natural thing to do because it's lucrative flying. We try to fit it in if and when we can. With all the network disruption that we face, for the various reasons we've mentioned, sometimes it's actually difficult to do that. We may just use the charter gap as a fire break, so to speak, in the schedule, to try and let us recover and get things back on track because for us, it's certainly more important to protect the fixed flying for existing customers.

Cargo Chat: Magma Aviation’s Conor Brannigan on network strategy, perishables growth

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