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Hong
Kong-based Dragonair, which serves Dubai 20 times a week with its
intercontinental freighter service, faced a challenging year due
to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) earlier
this year. Though the passengers’ number plummeted throughout the
crisis, the airlines’ freight continued its climb skywards ahead
of the traditionally busy end-of-year peak.
In September, the latest month for which figures were available,
the airline carried 25,627 tonnes of cargo, an increase of 11.5%
over August, and a 39.8% jump over September last year.
"Cargo has been a star performer for us this year, and has
become an increasingly important contributor to our bottom line,"
said Alan Lai, the airline’s Cargo Deputy General Manager. "Throughout
the height of the SARS
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outbreak
freight continued to set new records for us, driven by demand for
exports and imports from our major market, the China mainland,"
added Lai.
Dragonair has been ahead of the curve in developing cargo services
that make the most of the potential in the mainland. As well as
having a dedicated freighter service to Shanghai, and carrying freight
from 18 mainland destinations to Hong Kong in the belly space of
its passenger fleet, it has developed new products to serve the
market.
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"The latest successful initiative has been the development
of an express service offering to Shanghai in co-operation with
express delivery company DHL," explained Lai.
The overnight service, which uses a Dragonair Airbus A330-300 passenger
aircraft with a payload capacity of 22 tonnes, began in June and
operates from Tuesday to Friday from Hong Kong.
"This co-operation confirms Dragonair’s position as the China
expert and strengthens Hong Kong as a cargo hub," stated Lai.
"We will continue to focus on serving our current network,
building up our frequencies through Dubai to Europe," revealed
Lai. In the immediate future, Dragonair looks at increasing the
size of its freighter fleet, which currently comprises three Boeing
747-300s.
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| Singapore
Airlines Cargo commences direct services to Kuwait
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| Fedex
announces new Regional IT Communications Head |
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Federal
Express Corp. (FedEx Express), the world’s largest  express
transportation company, has announced the appointment
of a new head of Information Technology for the region.
Eric Keane will take on the role of Vice President and
Chief Information Officer for Europe, Middle East and
Africa, based at FedEx’ European headquarters in Brussels.
Most recently, Keane was responsible for successfully
transforming FedEx’s supply chain portfolio of solutions
and building a world-class customer technology group
as Vice President, Customer Technology and Supply Chain
Management, EMEA.
In his new role as Vice President and Chief Information
Officer, Keane will be responsible for creating and
administering all internal and external technology for
the EMEA region ensuring business operations remain
uninterrupted and customer needs are addressed.
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Singapore
Airlines Cargo, a fully owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines,
has commenced direct freighter services to Kuwait since September
16, 2003. The twice-weekly services operate with 110-tonne
capacity B747-400 Mega Ark freighters, and departs from Singapore
to Kuwait and then on to Amsterdam.
The twice-weekly return service commences from New York, proceeding
to Brussels and Kuwait before arriving in Singapore. Hwang
Teng Aun, President of Singapore Airlines Cargo, said, "Kuwait
is a good fit and an important addition to our existing network.
With these services, we will be able to serve the growing
opportunities in the region."
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