The Air France- KLM Group will redeploy Boeing 747-400 freighter aircraft from Latin America to support the September launch of service between Amsterdam and Hong Kong in response to high shipping demand from e-commerce retailers.
The new service is scheduled to begin on Sept. 19 and be operated by subsidiary Martinair Cargo with a stopover in Dubai, a major crossroad for international trade. It will mark the first time in nine years KLM/Martinair all-cargo aircraft have operated to Hong Kong on a regular basis, the group announced Monday.
Martinair will initially operate flights three times per week, increasing to four times per week with the start of the winter schedule on Oct. 27. The Boeing 747-400 freighters have a maximum payload of 120 tons.
Netherlands-based Martinair operates four Boeing 747-400s, including three that belong to KLM.
The freighter route to Hong Kong will significantly boost Air France-KLM’s capacity in the key Asia market. Air France currently operates from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport to Beijing and Mumbai, India, multiple times per week with two Boeing 777-200 cargo jets. The sister airlines also have numerous widebody passenger aircraft that carry large amounts of cargo in the lower deck.
Air France-KLM said it will suspend several Latin American freighter routes to free up aircraft for the Hong Kong-Dubai service. Destinations that will be cut in September are Campinas, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; Quito, Ecuador; and Guatemala City, said spokesman Gerard Roelfzema.
The airline will continue to operate 747 freighter service to Bogota, Colombia, three times per week via Miami.
“In the East Asian market, the e-commerce segment is growing steadily, driving increased demand for efficient and reliable air freight solutions. The introduction of this new Boeing 747 freighter service is a crucial step in adding main deck capacity to our extensive belly network,” said Adriaan den Heijer, executive vice president cargo at Air France-KLM and managing director of Martinair, in a news release. “This expansion not only strengthens our freighter footprint in Asia but also offers more options and greater flexibility to our customers.”
E-commerce has been one of the primary drivers behind the 12.5% year-to-date growth in global air cargo demand from the same 2023 period. Online shopping platforms, predominantly in China, account for more than 11,000 tons of goods moved by air each day – equal to the capacity of 100 777 freighters, Boeing said in its 20-year commercial outlook this month.
Logistics providers and analysts say widebody freighter capacity is very tight on major trade routes out of China as e-tailers book large quantities of available space. Taiwanese freighter forwarder Dimerco estimates that 70% of air exports from Hong Kong and half of volumes flown out of Shanghai are small parcels.
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Twitter: @ericreports / LinkedIn: Eric Kulisch / ekulisch@freightwaves.com
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