Ethiopian offers charter options

Few industry sectors have escaped the impact of the global economic downturn – and charters have not been immune. “People are holding back on spending and using charters only when they really have to,” says Airline Cargo Resources general manager Stuart Tonkin. But despite the depressed state of the industry the company is continuing to market its charter option. “We use Ethiopian Airlines as our main charter operator, although we get prices from other operators to regions that Ethiopian doesn’t support. Etihad Airways also has freighters available.” Ethiopian flies to Johannesburg weekly using a B757 freighter. They also have access to B747 freighters and an MD11. “These are all available for charter into Africa,” says Tonkin. “For Ethiopian it makes good sense – they’re using the same aircraft they fly in here to charter out to certain regions and they position them back in Ethiopia to pick up their loads there.” According to Tonkin the charter market at present is very erratic. “The product is there but people use seafreight where possible because they’re looking for the cheapest option. “Last year we were doing three to four charters a month, this year it’s far less regular.” But there are times when charter is the only option – with a mix of telecommunications equipment, election material, mining spares and tobacco moving by charter aircraft. “The size and volume of cargo is often too big for scheduled services and that’s when our freighters come in useful. “We’d like to see more growth, but clearly that will be dictated by market demands.”