From the Cockpit with Hong Kong Air Cargo President Hakan Bulat

Hong Kong Air Cargo is preparing for growth and will soon put into service its first A330-200P2F. The 2009-vintage, Trent 700-powered aircraft (1028, ex-Capital Airlines) represents the first time Hong Kong Air Cargo has added to its own freighter fleet in more than ten years. [caption id="attachment_57291290" align="aligncenter" width="2048"] Hong Kong Air Cargo will soon add to its fleet of five A330-200Fs. (Courtesy/Hong Kong Air Cargo)[/caption] The carrier hopes to receive unit 1028 at the end of the year before deploying it in early 2026, but is also looking to add more widebody freighters, President Hakan Bulat tells Cargo Facts. Bulat, who has been president of Hong Kong Air Cargo since March, has worked in the air cargo business for more than twenty years, with experience at both carriers and forwarders. Cargo Facts sat down with Bulat to discuss his new role, Hong Kong Air Cargo’s perspective of the market and the carrier’s growth. What follows is an edited version of the conversation. Cargo Facts : How have you adapted to your new role since March? Hakan Bulat: For me, Hong Kong Air Cargo was a new environment, but personally it wasn’t too difficult since I had already been in Hong Kong and China for more than twenty years, and I had already been in the air cargo business since the start of my career. So, it was not too challenging. Also, Hong Kong Air Cargo has a small but effective team, from the chairman down to the office staff. Cargo Facts : What would you say you’ve achieved in your first five months, and what else do you want to do with Hong Kong Air Cargo? HB: I think the biggest achievement so far is adding another aircraft to the fleet, which is the first time in the company’s history. We used to be the cargo department within Hong Kong Airlines, but in 2017 we became separate as a standalone airline. We have always had five aircraft but we’re now growing the fleet. The aircraft is now at STARCO undergoing conversion and it will join us around December. With all the paperwork, registration, customs, etc., I think we will have the first commercial flight with it in January. Other than that, if you look at all the other cargo operators in the HNA group, Hong Kong Air Cargo is the only scheduled network carrier. That means we have to do something different from the others. My aim is to bring new products to Hong Kong Air Cargo and then to focus on parts of the business that we did not focus on before. We have made some breakthroughs already, but it is too early to announce them now. CF : In terms of the network, where else do you see opportunities for growth? HB: With our sixth aircraft, we see further opportunities within Asia. That is our core network. Currently we have strong frequencies to Europe, with almost daily flights to Istanbul, and flights to London, Liege and Budapest. There are certain destinations that we would like to cover with our freighters, in Southeast Asia, for example. The intra-Asia business has always been very strong and it’s one of the biggest trade flows in the world, so that’s where we will focus on. CF : How are you and your team handling the unpredictability and volatility in the market? HB: Actually, the nature of our business is all built on managing volatilities. If you’re not agile enough and cannot adapt to a new business environment, you will not survive. The changes in the air cargo market are happening much faster than on the passenger side, so that’s why you have to be flexible in where you operate your aircraft and how you design your network. That said, we always have to keep in mind that we also have a passenger belly network, which means that we have to do our planning based on that as well. CF : How are things looking for this upcoming peak season? HB: So far, all of our fleet is more or less booked until the end of the year. We have very little space left. I think other carriers should be in a similar situation. We expect the peak to start around mid-October and will adjust our network and schedule accordingly. CF : How will you deploy your first A330-200P2F? Will you be differentiating it from the other factory A330-200Fs? HB: We’ll separate it a little but not completely. The factory freighters obviously have slightly better range and payload, so the new aircraft will most probably fly within Asia. It may not make as much sense to fly it to medium- or long-haul destinations. Based on our numbers, the difference in payload is about 10%, which is significant because in our business we always operate on single-digit margins. However, even if this were a factory freighter, we would most likely still deploy it intra-Asia because that’s where we feel we need more capacity. CF : How many more freighters do you see joining the fleet? HB: Apart from this upcoming addition, in the next five years, we want to have bigger aircraft. But the availability is very limited. It’s almost impossible to find an A330 factory freighter. We would like to have 777s, but there are so few available in the market, whether production or conversion. So, we are just watching for opportunities that will help our long-haul expansion. Register here for Cargo Facts ’ upcoming free webinar, “Air cargo route networks: Strategies for improved results and greater efficiencies,” on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at 11 a.m. ET. Cargo Facts Symposium, the quintessential event for stakeholders and key leaders in the global freighter and air cargo industries, will take place Oct. 22-24 at the Grand Hyatt in Nashville . Learn more and register today to take advantage of the early-bird rate before Sept. 5.

From the Cockpit with Hong Kong Air Cargo President Hakan Bulat

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