The Southern Hemisphere passenger seasonal flights have rejoined the winter schedule, giving shippers the opportunity to uplift the summer produce from the region, and to support the two year-round freighter services per week from Australia.

The additional destinations include the return of Christchurch in New Zealand, but there are a couple of points of difference to last year, according to Nigel Chynoweth, Area Head of Cargo, South West Pacific. “The good news is that schedule has been extended to the end of March, and during January the frequency will increase from three to four flights per week to support the cherry harvest peak,” he says. “Apart from cherries, we will also see good market support from dairy and seafood.” Flights will be operated by the Airbus A350-900.

After five years offline, Adelaide (above) is back online with three flights per week until the end of March, also using the A350-900. The South Australian capital will offer exports from live and chilled seafood, chilled meats, dairy products and fresh fruit, bound for destinations across Asia and the Chinese Mainland.

Finally, Cairns marks its second winter season back with three flights per week from December to February operated by an Airbus A330. “We’re expecting strong support from perishable shippers with mangoes, avocados and lychees as the main fruit exports,” adds Chynoweth. “We also expect good support from live fish exporters with their products in high demand in Hong Kong, The Chinese Mainland, North East Asia and the Americas.”

SAMEA

The frequency of passenger flights to Riyadh (above) has been increased from four flights a week to daily using the A350-900 to support the weekly freighter service. This is good news for e-commerce exporters based around Hong Kong. “The extra flights put us in a strong position for imports into Riyadh,” says Cargo Manager, Middle East Edwin Gudino. “Of course, it also allows us to effectively serve the export needs of our customers, and we have seen market share into Hong Kong-China, South East Asia, and Northeast Asia growing and we are pursuing opportunities into the Americas and South West Pacific.”

Export commodities include perishables like dates alongside oil and gas products, cars, engines, valuables and couriered items.

Chinese Mainland

On 4 November, Changsha (hero image top of page) became the Cathay Group’s fifth new passenger destination to the Chinese Mainland this year. In past years, the Hunan Province city was on the Cathay Dragon network, and is familiar territory for Wendy Ge, Head of Cargo Chinese Mainland. Served by daily flights using the A321-neo, demand is already growing for cargo.

“We have a solid relationship with the GHA and some forwarders in the area which enabled us to restart business there quickly,” says Ge. The tonnages from first flights ex-Changsha were encouraging, albeit the A321 being narrow body, averaging out at 2.2 tonnes over the first six flights. “Most of the cargo to date has been e-commerce and material for garment manufacturers across Asia. We are looking to extend our reach and range of commodities.”