Qatar Airways Cargo saw cargo volumes increase by 37.5 per cent in 2015 to 1.5 million tonnes with all business areas seeing strong growth.
Imports into Doha increased by 29 per cent, with export traffic up by 10 per cent and transshipments shot up by 39 per cent compared to 2014. The increase in volumes came in large part off the back of an expanded network of destinations and new freighter acquisitions.
Qatar Airways chief officer cargo, Ulrich Ogiermann says: “At a time when international air cargo traffic grew only 2.5 per cent in 2015, it makes us very proud that our year-on-year figures from 2014 to 2015 show that we have grown our tonnage by 37.5 per cent.”
He continues: “We have achieved this phenomenal growth through a combination of fleet and network expansion, creative interline agreements and by deploying capacity on expanding or untapped markets.”
Further growth is expected this year, and the cargo carrier has already added a new freighter connection to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and added a fourth weekly freighter frequency to Los Angeles International Airport in January. Plus, Qatar Airways Cargo is to add three new all-cargo connections to Budapest, Prague and Ho Chi Minh City this month (March). Bellyhold capacity will also be available on new passenger services launching this year to Atlanta and Boston (both US), Birmingham (UK) and Adelaide (Australia). This is in addition to the passenger service connection to Los Angeles that was inaugurated on 1 January this year.
Also in January, the freight carrier welcomed a seventh Airbus A330 Freighter and first Boeing 747 Freighter into its fleet. It now operates seven A330Fs, eight Boeing 777 Freighters and one 747F, and the fleet is expected to rise to 21 freighters by 2017.
