Cargo Facts Asia: More widebody freighter usage for e-commerce driven by pandemic

Widebody freighter aircraft are well suited for Asia-Pacific operations due to their efficiency, range and large payload capabilities, but the COVID-19 pandemic has increased their utilization for transport of e-commerce and express cargo, according to panelists during an on-demand session on e-commerce at this year’s Cargo Facts Asia virtual event on April 20. [caption id="attachment_415768" align="alignright" width="450"] Panelists from Teleport, K-Mile Air, AirBridgeCargo Airlines and Cainiao joined session 5 at Cargo Facts Asia 2021[/caption] “With the reduction of passenger bellyhold [capacity], there was an increase in the amount of e-commerce using widebody aircraft,” said Joanna Li, director of strategic partnership Asia & Pacific with Volga-Dnepr Group’s AirBridgeCargo Airlines. “ We have received numerous requests and nowadays we have around 40% of our capacity used for dedicated charters or ACMI, in terms of carrying express or e-commerce goods. This was never the case before. Before 2019, the majority of our capacity was for scheduled services rather than dedicated to our express or e-commerce.” The emergence of freighters as the airfreight transport of choice for e-commerce during the pandemic was confirmed by panelist William Xiong, the chief strategist and general manager of export logistics for Alibaba’s logistics subsidiary, Cainiao. Cross-border e-commerce fulfillment needs are growing not only for airfreight but for ocean and train transport, as well, said Xiong. “Demand is growing very fast so both the freighters and belly [capacity] requirements will grow,” Xiong said during the session. “In the short to medium term we rely very, very heavily on freighter s. In the long-term, both freighters and [passenger] belly capacity will be well-utilized because the freighters serve the efficiencies and accuracies much better, where some of the belly capacities are more flexible and for some routes are more cost-competitive.” Upgauging from narrowbody to widebody freighters and adding more frequencies is also necessary “in some of the routes to have much better capacities and much better cost-effectiveness,” Xioing said. “So with that, we continue to work very closely with a lot of our partners, including ABC, including YTO, Air China, etc., to further expand our network.” Narrowbody freighters will remain an important part of e-commerce fulfillment, however. Sanand Karnik, chief operating officer of K-Mile Air, emphasized that there is “a need and place for both solutions” during the panel. K-Mile has operated three 737-400 freighters on behalf of DHL Express since 2014 and recently added a fourth aircraft, a 737-800F , for the integrator late in March. According to Karnik there is a need for both types “depending on the sectors and the customer requirements.” “We’ve seen a significant growth in the utilization of those [737] freighters over a period of time,” Karnik said, adding, “We see additional frequencies, with routes that we would operate maybe four or five times a week now become five or six times a week.” With the recently added 737-800F, K-Mile is “expected to increase commercial service by the latter half of this month again, in the DHL network. So we’re seeing growth across all spectrums,” he said. “A lot of this growth driven by e-commerce — we sort of received a tailwind because of the developments of the last 12 to 14 months — is here to stay,” predicted Karnik. “A lot of the demand is sticky, and it will definitely require more capacity both at the widebody end of the spectrum as well as the narrowbody.”

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