The need for quick transport of urgent cargo, particularly during the height of the pandemic last year, has offered airlines a much needed revenue source as higher rates produced higher yields given the surging demand and lack of capacity.

As passenger traffic came close to a standstill with border restrictions and locked downs not only in Asia Pacific but across the globe, this resulted in grounded planes and with it the reduction of belly capacity that used to carry half of the air cargo transported around the world.

Operating against this backdrop, one Singapore-based air freight charter operator found an opportunity as cargo became the bright spot for much of the aviation industry. Its mission: ‘connecting the world’s logistics needs with our aviation expertise.’

With headquarters in the heart of the Singapore airport community at SATS airfreight terminal 3 in Changi Airport, P-Cube Aviation managed to stay resilient during the pandemic thanks to forged ties with its airline partners. The company vision is to be the “industry preferred partner for cargo movement to destinations worldwide.”

“2020 was a very tough year due to the pandemic,” said Syed Hadi, managing director of P-Cube Aviation. “The only way to survive was to react and adapt to the ever-changing market conditions. We saw an opportunity with the grounding of flights. This created a funnel effect in which there was an increased demand for cargo capacity due to the severely reduced airlines/aircraft operating,” he added.

For Syed, the modus operandi, which became its core business, was to find avenues for customers to move cargo in and out Singapore (SIN). “We started chartering flights to operate in India, Vietnam, Manila and Jakarta. We chartered the aircrafts and started offering to the market on a per kilogram basis.”

“We operated on a scheduled service around the region creating avenues for customers to move cargo in and out SIN and creating a network for other stations to funnel out their cargo due to the capacity crunch faced,” he added.

Syed added that market demand was particularly strong in 2020 due to uncertainty but has generally stabilised in 2021 as consumers and the aviation industry slowly accepted a ‘new norm’—one that saw higher rates across the board, particularly on US-bound routes.

What started as charter solutions has now evolved given last year’s success. P-Cube Aviation is now set to become the general sales and services agent for Malaysia’s flag carrier at Changi starting July.

“This will be our first airline product representation,” Syed noted. “We duly hope that with our current team expertise and presence in the market that we further grow with Malaysia Airlines in years to come. This will only be possible with the support and rapport garnered with our current forwarding agents working towards a mutually beneficial relationship,” he added.

P-CUBE AVIATION was established in 2018 in Singapore with the intention of providing air charter solutions to customers around the world. Backed by experienced air carriers, the company is committed to getting shipments delivered to destinations intended without any hassle or delays.