Growth is important for Qatar Airways said the carrier’s chief executive Akbar Al Baker recently as he announced that the carrier has now risen to the third largest cargo airline in IATA rankings and detailed plans for a fleet of 21 freighters by 2017 along with a quintupling of its current cargo terminal capacity in Doha by 2018.
While growth is important, Al Baker emphasised it’s not merely growth for growth’s sake. “We are not here in the business of charity,” he highlighted to media during a press conference in Doha last week. “I would not have a big freighter fleet if I was not going to be profitable. I made it very clear that we are not here to show our flag, we are a business entity and we are responsible to my government as a business to make money,” he said.
“What we are interested in, is not to become number one, but certainly to be one of the top three which we are already and the quality of product delivery that we will be providing will surpass all the number one and number two in the ranking,” Al Baker told air cargo media in Doha. “So the ranking in size is not important to us, what is important to us that we want to be number one in the customer service that we provide to our clients.”
“Two years ago I committed to driving QR Cargo to the worlds fifth largest cargo carrier and the good news today is that I’m proud to announce that we have surpassed that goal and based on the latest IATA FTK rankings we are now number three in the industry, Al Baker said.
He went on to note that Qatar Airways is a diverse company in every part of the supply chain and highlighted it was a success story since starting cargo operations in 1997. At that time the carrier uplifted only belly cargo, “and since then our FTK growth has been phenomenal and our position in the IATA cargo ranking has steadily risen,” he said pointing to the fact that in 2010 the carrier was sixteenth in terms of FTKs and now only five years later its number three.
“Qatar Airways Cargo is continuing its growth and contributing fundamentally to the growth and expansion of Qatar Airways also as a global cargo carrier. In today’s world, few airlines can thrive without successfully tapping into the cargo component of their business as an airline,” Al Baker said. He added that the carrier is aiming for a contribution from the cargo division of up to 25-30 per cent of the total airline revenue.
“Our predictions for the future are very bright we want to be industry leading carrier offering more efficient services through our improved technology and investment,” both of which will result in cost savings for the carrier, which will then be passed on to its clients, Al Baker said.
“The airlines which do not invest in its cargo divisions will continue to lose their market share and in the next five years, in my opinion at least one or two major players will bow out of the cargo industry,” he said. “I will not name them, I know who they are, but I will not name them,” he added coyly.
Fleet expansion
From only belly-capacity 18 years ago, the carrier now has a fleet of 15 freighters – eight B777-200s, six A330-200s and one leased B747. Belly-capacity remains a key component of the airline with its passenger fleet having substantial wide-body aircraft including 30 B777s, 28 A330s, 23 B767s, six A380s and at the moment four A350s.
This of course is set to change substantially with between nine and 11 aircraft coming in before the end of 2015. Currently Qatar Airways serves 48 freighter destinations, more than 150 belly hold destinations and has over 100 interline partners.
This growth sees no signs of abating either with Al Baker confirming at the press event Qatar Airways’ commitment to expanding the cargo fleet further – with a seventh A330-200 freighter to be delivered in December, an eighth A330 in March 2016, the ninth B777F in June 2016, a B777F in July 2016, the 11th B777F in October of 2016 and yet another B777F of March 2017. “As you can see we’ve already added four freighters in 2016 taking our total freighters to 20 and eventually our 21st freighter the following year.
“Our network enhancement has also been very rapid – in 2014 we added 12 new passenger destinations and 11 new freighter destinations – this is already a record for any carrier to achieve this massive growth in just one year,” says Al Baker. “In 2015 alone we have added four new freighter destinations and from November to Dec we will enhance services to Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Dhaka.”
There is also a launch of a new route to Durban with 40 tonnes of belly cargo a week and in March 2016 we will launch a new route to Sydney with an additional 40 tonnes of belly cargo per week.
Hub growth
All of this growth at the home carrier has also been a windfall for Doha, ascending to global hub status alongside the growth of Qatar Airways. ‘Qatar has of course become a global hub and has established itself in the forefront of global aviation the country has invested significantly in infrastructure projects and aspires to become a world recognised logistics centre with the development of free trade and logistics zones expanding around my country.”
“Qatar airways cargo has reached where it is today through commitment and vision of course our employees and the technology that we deploy,” he said pointing to Cromos, the next generation cargo management system that was developed by the carrier’s in-house IT department along with a third-party provider.
The carrier has also been a staunch proponent of e-AWBs and has now reached 98 per cent e-QWB enabled in Doha itself and is rapidly growing the e-pentration across its network. It is also committed to growing the cargo infrastructure with a new US$1 billion state-of-the-art 292,000 sqm cargo terminal – the cargo terminal building itself is 55,000 sqm – with a capacity of 1.4 million tonnes annually and parking stands for 11 freighters simultaneously.
And clearly the theme of growth touches all aspects of the carrier’s business, with Al Baker announcing at the press conference plans for a second cargo terminal more than doubling the capacity of the current operation.
This will take the total capacity to 4.4 million tonnes per annum when the second terminal is operational, boosting the existing facilities by 110,000 sqm. But not stopping there, Al Baker also announced a further fourth tier cargo terminal that will leapfrog the 4.4 million tonnes capacity to seven million tonnes, a feat that is targeted to be operational in just over years’ time, in 2018.
He said the investments at Hamad International Airport were testimony to the seriousness with which Qatar Airways regards cargo. He added: “Our cargo network direct from Doha using our B777 freighters, we are covering nearly 88 per cent of the total world’s population.”
The carrier is also keenly committed to corporate social responsibility as well, evidenced by the 22 freighters full of aid that it sent to Nepal after the earthquake earlier this year. “I think we were the only airline in the world that deployed such a large number of freighter operations to the Nepalese capital,” Al Baker said.
The carrier also continues to support the conservation and preservation of endangered species – Qatar airways does not carry any endangered species on its aircraft regardless whether it is on official exchange, or just for trophy transfers.
Specialty products
It also has ventured down the high-yield route of many of its contemporaries, having launched QR Pharma not long ago, with 54 approved pharma stations on the QR network already. These include both active and passive stations, quick ramp transfers at its Doha hub, and a dedicated climate control team.
The carrier also has QR Fresh for transporting fresh products and its hub is compliant to IATA Ch. 17 and has high loading priority, quick transfer at ramp, temperature control vehicles at the hub and also a dedicated climate control team for fresh products.
QR Charter is another new product, positioned as a quality, reliable and cost effective global charter solution including full, part and combination charter operations. This is where the recent lease of a B747 converted freighter comes into the picture – which is only a temporary solution while the carrier awaits a nose-loading B747-400.
“The new arrival of this new B747 freighter is exactly for this purpose so that we can carry outsized cargo.” Moving into this area was given a substantial push by the fact that QR
had previously been refusing outsized cargo because it simply did not have the capability. “So we were giving an opportunity to our competitors to fill in this small void that existed in the Qatar Airways cargo fleet,” says Al Baker.
“As we grow our business there could be the possibility that we will lease more of these nose-loading airplanes to fulfill the requirements, as and when it grows. But you know we are not in the league of becoming the biggest, just announcing the number of airplanes and the capacity we have.
“We want to be ranked on the capacity we carry and again we are not in the business of parking airplanes on the ground. So as and when the need arises we will look at leasing more airplanes and in that category, for that requirement,” he added.
Also announced at the event were two new specialty products – QR equine offering five-star service and world class facilities for the transport of horses, which is managed by a dedicated team of experts both in Doha and abroad.
QR Express is the other new product, aimed squarely at the burgeoning global ecommerce traffic. “It gives the opportunity to book through a simplified system with a high volume priority and a rapid handling guarantee of speedy delivery of your cargo worldwide on our network,” Al Baker said.
“We’ve committed to creating a unique mix of industry-leading specialty products, we’re committed to expanding in every aspect of the cargo market, Al Baker added.
