Airlines add transpac capacity as flood of ecommerce traffic continues
Airlines are boosting their transpacific capacity in the face of continued strong ecommerce volumes. Etihad Cargo ...
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By Alex Lennane
Please : a request for a reconsideration of KLM and Air France decision and announcement of grounding KLM 747-400 Combi aircraft
Montreal, March 20,2020
An open letter to Ben Smith, Chairman Air France KLM Group and Peter Elbers President KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
Gentlemen,
You don’t know me, but I had the honour to work for KLM Cargo for over 32 years culminating with global responsibility for cargo sales and marketing based in Schiphol. Prior to that I was VP cargo and area manager Canada ...
Comment on this article
massimo roccasecca
March 21, 2020 at 3:33 pmNot only i agree on the extremely accurate picture Stan Wraight has described, therefore personally convinced the decision in KLM was taken by people who has no knowledge of cargo dynamics whatsoever, but i would like to forward the following question:
Covid 19 is heavily impacting the passenger traffic. And it might be become even heavier. Perhaps forcing airlines to reduce capacity in a drastic manner. Where is the sense in grounding the only real cargo aircraft when, due to this pandemic emergency, it will be needed the most?
Derek Hendricks
March 21, 2020 at 5:19 pmTo : Loadstar
I am in strong agreement with Mr. Wraight . I believe that the B-747M aircraft represent both a unique capability , and opportunity , for airlines possessing them . Consider that the current slowdown in air-travel may be long-term , or even permanent . Cargo-transport will likely not be so affected , as the recent outbreaks all have required person-to-person contact . In addition to all extant jumbo-combis , I believe that the currently flying , dedicated passenger jumbo/super-jumbo jets should be converted to split-level combis , not for heavy-freight , but for luggage and possibly light-freight . Such planes would have passengers only on their top-deck , heavy-freight only in the cargo-holds , some pax main-deck forward, and luggage/possible low-density air-freight on main-deck rearward . This also gives the option of carrying the luggage from other aircraft , thus enabling them to carry a full belly-load of well-paying air-freight . This alternative layout would enable airlines to fly their largest planes consistently payload-full . They could also fly them to many point-to-point destinations , as their pax-loads would be modest .
*As has always been the case in the transport industry , “Size equals efficiency” .
D.H.