Cargo shoulders the weight of transatlantic route recovery for BA, AA

[caption id="attachment_86658" align="alignright" width="460"] Many of British Airways' transatlantic flights are now operated by its 787-9s. (Photo: British Airways)[/caption] As partner airlines British Airways and American Airlines slowly resume passenger services between the United Kingdom and the United States, their use of passenger freighters is on the decline. But what hasn’t declined is the importance of cargo on many of these transatlantic flights. Most recently, British Airways resumed passenger service on the Dallas ( DFW ) route with a 787-10. The airline took delivery of its first two 787-10s at the end of June, and had already been deploying them on cargo-only flights to DFW since early July. The first reinstated flight to DFW on July 16 carried just twenty-seven passengers, according to a social media post by what appears to be an employee at London Heathrow Airport ( LHR ). With a total of 256 seats, that represents a passenger load factor of 11%. Based on data by flight availability software ExpertFlyer, which shows seat map information using information provided by airlines, the DFW route appears to have an average load factor of around 16% from July 17 to 21. What this emphasizes is the role cargo plays in ensuring the viability of these flights, at least in the short term. Brett Hall, commercial manager of the Central USA area at IAG Cargo , the combined airfreight division of British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus, and Level, told Air Cargo World the carrier has been transporting pharmaceuticals, aircraft parts, mining industry products, consumer products and live animals on the DFW flight, and that cargo revenue on this route “remains robust.” British Airways is currently offering passenger flights from LHR to Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), DFW, Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), and Washington (IAD) in the U.S., and cargo-only flights to Atlanta (ATL), ORD, Houston (IAH), JFK, Philadelphia (PHL), and Seattle (SEA). While the routes other than DFW have slightly better load factors across the same date range, including ORD at around 50% and JFK at around 44%, combining all the currently operational passenger routes with the same date range gives an average load factor of about 34%. This is already likely to be an overestimate, since the ExpertFlyer seat counts sometimes include blocked seats that end up not being occupied. Similarly, American Airlines told Air Cargo World that many of the international passenger flights it currently operates are made possible because of cargo revenue. “They simply wouldn’t be sustainable based upon passenger revenue alone,” said Jessica Tyler, American’s new president of cargo. American Airlines currently operates daily 777-300ER passenger flights from DFW, MIA, and JFK to LHR; a daily 787-8 from ORD to LHR; as well as daily 787-8s from DFW to Amsterdam (AMS), Paris (CDG), Frankfurt (FRA), and Madrid (MAD). Additionally, twice-weekly 787-8 cargo-only flights are operated from Philadelphia (PHL) to Rome (FCO), Milan (MXP) and FRA. A rough search on ExpertFlyer for American’s four LHR routes on the next two days gives an average load factor of 25-30%. “The truth is, restrictions continue to change by the day — even by the hour — and what we see is still really strong demand to and from European destinations for freight and mail, on what would have traditionally been our passenger routes but today are running as cargo-only flights,” said Tyler. The pendulum could gradually swing more toward the passenger market in the months ahead, but for now, many transatlantic flights, not just those of British Airways, are likely to continue to be operated on a cargo-only or a cargo-heavy basis.

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