Japan Airlines is investigating third-party freighters
Japan Airlines (JAL) is in talks with unnamed third-party operators to bring back freight capacity that had been lost when it suspended freighter operations in 2010, said Hiroo Iwakoshi, the carrier’s executive officer for cargo and mail.
The Japanese government has signed off on JAL’s use of cargo charters, but JAL says that it won’t be using its own freighters anytime soon.
Speaking to Asia Cargo News during the 2017 China Air Cargo Summit in Tianjin, Iwakoshi said that JAL’s cargo operations had been undercut by the company’s decision to abandon dedicated-freighter operations.
“After we suspended freighter operations, we lost some market share in China and the U.S., for example,” Iwakoshi said. “We need to expand our capacity on these routes, but unfortunately our business now relies on passenger aircraft only, so now we’re negotiating with other airlines, either ACMI carriers or traditional airlines, for additional space on those routes.”
