Air Charter Service’s Hong Kong office is predicting another strong peak season this year based on forward bookings todate. “Last year October and November were extremely busy charter-wise with large freighters mainly to supplement scheduled capacity to Europe and the US,” said Stephen Fernandez, cargo manager ACS Hong Kong.

“In early October last year there was a sudden lack of availability on scheduled service B747s, which caused many forwarders to look at chartered flights to secure additional capacity. This year we have already seen clients booking a large number of charters — generally running from the end of September — in preparation for the upcoming peak season.

“So far we have mainly contracted B747 freighters, and have pre-booked more than 4,000 tonnes of cargo. Judging by the number of forward bookings, a very busy peak season is expected,” he said. “Last year we wondered whether it was bit of a false peak season created by capacity that had been taken out of the market by airlines parking up some of their fleets, but demand this year already seems to be high.”

HONG KONG:Cathay plans to purchase 36 new aircraft Cathay Pacific Airways said it has entered into a letter of intent with the Airbus to buy 30 Airbus A350-900 aircraft. The airline has also expressed its intention to exercise existing purchase rights in respect of six Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, according to an airline statement. Both orders are worth nearly HK$75 billion (US$9.7 billion) at list prices. The 30 new aircraft will be deployed to replace older aircraft and grow the fleet to meet the challenges of the future, the carrier said. The airline currently operates a fleet of 128 wide-body aircraft including 25 freighters.