28 Dec 2020
China Airlines Wins 2020 Air Cargo Executive of the Year Award
The good news just keeps on coming for China Airlines Cargo, with the latest report issued by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) ranking China Airlines among the top six air cargo carriers in the world. The authoritative air cargo magazine Air Cargo World also announced the results of its 2020 evaluations and Eddy Liu, Vice President of Cargo Division at China Airlines, was named “Air Cargo Executive of the Year.”
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 saw a jump in demand for air cargo. China Airlines operates the largest 747-400 freighter fleet in the world so a plan was developed by at the start of the pandemic to make the most use of the cargo capacity on 18 747-400 freighters. This included flexible flight schedules, optimal configuration of holds in each zone, promotion of custom charters, as well as an expansion of high-priority, e-commerce, postal and temperature-controlled cargo services. Greater use was also made of belly holds on passenger aircraft along with the pioneering of transporting cargo in cabins. The use of passenger aircraft for cargo services for example was introduced on long-haul routes such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Amsterdam and Frankfurt as well as regional routes in Asia. Since the second quarter of this year, more than one thousand cargo-only flights have been carried out by passenger aircraft each month on average to meet customer demand.
Most of the cargo carried by China Airlines in the pandemic has consisted of medical supplies, personal protective equipment, other emergency materials, and e-commerce goods. Even as the global airline industry went into deep freeze, China Airlines delivered strong performance on the strength of its cargo operations. Cargo revenues between January and November this year grew by 83% compared to the same period last year and this helped to mitigate the overall business impact of the pandemic.
China Airlines has been expanding its cargo network in recent years by establishing all-cargo routes to Nagoya in Japan, Delhi and Mumbai in India, and Columbus in the US. Capacity was also increased on routes such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Penang in Malaysia, and Singapore to create a comprehensive network. China Airlines is continuing to monitor global cargo developments closely in the post-pandemic era. It is continuing to focus on business opportunities from using Taiwan as a transshipping hub for the Asia-Pacific. Oceania routes are also being studied for the feasibility of regular freighter services to Australia and New Zealand; the progressive resumption of freighter flights to Amsterdam and Frankfurt is also planned for the European market in 2021.
The modernization of the China Airlines fleet continues. A total of six 777F freighters will be introduced between 2020 and 2023. Two aircraft have now been delivered with one more to be delivered by the end of January, 2021. Once the aircraft arrives it will bring the freighter fleet size to 21 aircraft in total. China Airlines has previously received the Air Cargo World “Air Cargo Excellence Award”. This year, Vice President of Cargo Division, Eddy Liu was named Air Cargo Executive of the Year. Chairman Su-chien Hsieh believed that the award was well-earned. China Airlines has extensive experience with the transportation of special cargo such as antiques, and precision instruments. It also assists with the delivery of flu vaccines produced by Taiwan across the world every year, and is the only Taiwanese carrier to be certified by the IATA for CEIV Pharma temperature-controlled cold chain logistics.
