In drastic moves, major airlines including Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia have announced the cancellation of international flights, due to the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. While this comes as a result of the prohibition of passenger travel, it has a knock-on effect on air cargo, which is mostly carried in the belly of passenger aircraft.
In news just released today, Qatar Airways is expanding operations to Australia to help get people home. From 29th March, Qatar Airways will add an extra 48,000 seats to the Australian market to help stranded passengers get home. The operation includes this flight:
- Daily Service to Brisbane (Boeing 777-300ER)
We expect they will want to load some export cargo on their return flights.
We have received advice from Cathay Pacific that, while they are making further passenger cuts to their schedule for April & May 2020, their freighter operations continue to operate normally. The message from their Regional head of Cargo included this reassurance for the freight industry: “We are evaluating other ways to boost our cargo capacity for this period. This is not going to be easy as all our Regions are also pressing our head office for same. However, we remain hopeful that additional freighters or passenger aircraft as cargo only operations can be mounted.â€
Singapore Airlines (SIA), which is normally a great supporter of Brisbane Airport with 4 flights per day, has cut 96% of its capacity that had been scheduled up to end-April. To assist with the movement of consignments from Brisbane, SIA Cargo are able to accept cargo which is first trucked to Sydney then loaded on their Boeing 747-400 Freighter service.
Ensuring smooth air cargo shipments is crucial to our clients and our industry. With the evaporation of passenger demand and cancellation of passenger flights, vital air cargo capacity has disappeared. While airlines are taking all measures they can to meet the remaining freight demand, including the conversion of grounded aircraft for use as freighters, they face bottlenecks in getting appropriate permissions – and crewing cargo flights – amid quarantine restrictions. Time is of the essence to fight the COVID-19 outbreak and we, along with all parties involved, are striving to keep global supply chains functioning.
We will continue to issue regular updates on the effects on international trade and shipping as a result of COVID-19 as the situation unfolds. As licensed Customs Brokers and International Freight Forwarders, Colless Young offers you correct, professional advice on all your import clearances and export shipping needs. We are based in Brisbane and handle cargo at all major ports and airports around Australia.
