Dubai: Cathay Pacific, Asia’s biggest international airline by passenger numbers, will increasingly carry more cargo on its passenger aircraft than on its freighters in a move to compete with Gulf carriers.
“The balance of our Europe service has changed… The Gulf carriers are fearsome competitors, so we had to look at how we best service the market,” said James Woodrow, Cathay Pacific Director of Cargo, in an interview on Monday.
He, however, singled out Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) as “very strong competitors”.
Today, more than half (56 per cent) of Cathay Pacific’s cargo is moved by the airline’s fleet of 119 passenger aircraft, which includes 60 of the widebody, long-range Boeing 777 variants. Woodrow said this figure would increase to 60 per cent within the next two to three years.
“Previously, a majority of our [European] cargo would be carried on freighters, whereas now a majority of our cargo would be carried in passenger [jet] bellies,” Woodrow said.
Cathay Pacific uses the 777s, which boast cargo capacity of 20 tonnes, to fly five times daily to London Heathrow and four times daily to Los Angeles.
Its fleet of 22 freighters operates 11 dedicated services a week into Europe via Dubai and up to 40 [services] a week into the Americas during peak seasons.
The Hong Kong-based carrier also flies freighter services into major production centres in Asia, including to Chengdu where Apple’s iPads are manufactured.
Asked about how the increase in cargo carried by passenger aircraft would impact future fleet orders, Woodrow said the airline will maintain a dedicated freighter fleet of 20 aircraft but increasingly use passenger aircraft to move around cargo.
Cathay Pacific has firm orders for 84 aircraft, which includes just the one freighter but 31 Boeing 777 variants including the new -9X model and 48 of Airbus’ A350 XWBs (extra wide bodies).
