GSSARoundUp Heavyweight enquiries hit an ‘all-time high’
According to a spokesman at air cargo ser- vices provider Heavyweight Air Express: “At the moment, our general air cargo business mostly mirrors what is happening in the industry as a whole. Some lane segments are definitely challenged but certain new routes offer some great opportunities.” He observed: “Carrier enquiries for our
services are at an all-time high. This is a typical trend when markets become stressed. Carriers look into every nook and cranny to discover new revenues and this can mean having a fresh look at GSAs. “In addition, our airport-to-door services
and air chartering have seen very noteworthy increases in 2011 and we expect those prod- ucts to continue to flourish in 2012.” In particular, the Heavyweight spokesman
noted that the company’s offering of air cargo capacity in Brazil has received “an
excellent commercial response almost from the day we opened”. He explained: “After a fantastic growth run
in the US, we are now looking at key Latin American markets – as many other compa- nies are. Last month (August), we opened our first South America office in São Paulo and it has been immediately successful, with a new on-line freighter operation that has seen 100 percent load factors from day one.” Looking forward, he considers: “The world-
wide economies will naturally be a concern but, in the end, airlines will keep expanding, contracting, opening new routes, cutting some and looking for fresh economies.” The spokesman concluded: “As long as that
dynamic is in place, our company has steady work. Certainly Latin America will see a careful and measured expansion, as well as other key markets.”
Capacity growth in question
Ross Di Lizio, UK-based GSSA ACP Worldwide’s general man- ager, Australia and New Zealand, observes: “We have recently seen carriers claiming revenue growth from this region and I think that during these tough economic times these claims are made far too easily and given too much attention when those same carriers also have double-digit growth in capacity. “Moreover, these carriers fail
to attribute any responsibility for the costs associated with sell- ing or having that extra capacity.” Di Lizio went on: “I make these comments
Di Lizio comments on seeing “an enormous increase”
as the region is currently experiencing an enor- mous increase in capacity. In the last month alone, there have been more than 500 tonnes of extra capacity per week out of Sydney alone. “Airlines are responding to a weaker Asian
market and strong Aussie dollar with increased inbound demand from the world’s strongest
performing economy,” he con- siders, redirecting freighters to Sydney and, in some cases, to Auckland. “Whilst this supplies much-
needed lift to the largest air freight city pair in the region, the outbound return flights from Australia to Asia are large- ly empty and do nothing but attract low-yield products in a market already inundated with cheap bellyhold capacity.” Despite all this, however, Di
Lizio noted that ACP continues to provide its existing carriers with revenue growth and increased market share. And:
“In terms of new business, we are careful who we do business with as experience tells us that some carriers’ demands are not viable for any GSSA in a low-yield market. “Trying or pretending to be everything to
everyone is not our business and we carefully remain focused on growth and making the most of existing selling opportunities and capacity.”
Czech Airlines inks contract with Aero Cargo...
Czech Airlines has agreed a representation deal with Aero Cargo that will see the gen- eral sales and services agent, which forms part of the Paris- headquartered ECS Group, act as its cargo sales agent in Germany. The contract, which came
into force this month (Octo- ber), involves Aero Cargo selling the bellyhold freight capacity of 68 Czech Airlines flights a week operating out of German airports. The Prague-based Czech
Antonio Oliveira, general
manager of Aero Cargo, remarked: “This contract reflects the strong and grow- ing relationship between Czech Airlines and ECS Group. “From Germany, we fore-
cast annual tonnage generation for Czech of approximately 2,000 tonnes,” he noted. Czech Airlines has previ-
flag-carrier operates sched- uled flights into the gateways of Berlin Tegel, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt-Main, Hamburg, Hannover, Munich and Stuttgart International airports.
Oliveira says the contract reflects a “strong and growing relationship”
ously signed similar cargo GSSA agreements with other ECS Group companies to cover France, the UK, Bulgaria and Ukraine. nCzech Airlines inaugurated
a four times a week A319 service between Prague and Abu Dhabi International airport on 22 September.
... while Globe increases Eastern Europe market share
According to Wolf Maria Taborsky, managing director in Austria of Globe Air Cargo –a GSSA that forms another component within ECS Group – the sales and services agent con- tinues to expand its market share in a static local market. Handling approximately 800-900 tonnes of
cargo a month, its biggest customers right now include UPS and Leisure Cargo. Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) flights
into Vienna – both passenger and B737 freighter services – are seeing good demand, while one particular success of late has been
Hainan Airlines, which signed up Globe to help fill its space on A330 flights into Budapest from Beijing as recently as February this year. Trucking cargo into the Hungarian capital:
“This opened up the China market for us,” Taborsky observed. He is very confident of adding a Middle
Eastern carrier to his customer airline portfolio very soon, but whatever the future holds: “We will continue to provide a top, top service and offer a one-stop solution for our carriers,” he explained, doing what the GSSA has always done with a great deal of success.
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3 October 2011
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