Swisscargo seeks links with Gulf Air, Qatar Airways

Swisscargo is talking with Gulf Air and Qatar Airways to handle Swisscargo loads from Dubai to Jeddah starting next year.
Vasco Furtado, regional manager for the Gulf, Iran and Sri Lanka, said Swisscargo plans to increase capacity from Dubai where it currently moves out up to 20 tonnes per flight on Swissair's daily flights from Dubai and three flights from Abu Dhabi.
Swissair forged ties with Gulf Air and Qatar Airways in March to take Swisscargo loads from Doha to Jeddah at up to 10 tonnes per flight on each airline.
The airline also clinched an agreement in June under which Iran Air will pick up loads from Dubai for Tehran, from where it will be forwarded via Swissair to Zurich.
Next year, Swisscargo plans to obtain space from Gulf Air and Qatar Airways to fly the extra loads from Dubai to Jeddah, then onwards to Zurich via Swissair from Saudi Arabia.
Plans are also underway to increase truck services linking UAE operations with Saudi Arabia. At the moment, Swisscargo has three scheduled trucks to Abu Dhabi. Three to four trucks will be used for Saudi Arabia operations.
"We are still under negotiation, so the space that both airlines will give us will depend on the space that they have. If we cannot transport cargo to Jeddah by plane, will take it by truck," he said.
"Jeddah is the only Swissair flight with some space, so the extra loads from Dubai are being taken there. Our goal is to have optimal load factor for the whole region so we can increase our capacity."
Swisscargo yesterday opened its reqional headquarters in Dubai which will cover six countries and nine stations in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Iran and Sri Lanka.
Now Swisscargo aims to increase its market share by two per cent annually. The airline now holds three per cent of the cargo market out of the more than 80 airlines operating in Dubai.