Qatar adds two flights as cargo demand rises

ALAN PEAT
WITH MORE and more cargo being transported to-and-from Africa through Qatar Airways’ hub airport in the Gulf state of Doha, the airline is to introduce two more flights on the South Africa route. “From December 13,” said John Murray, international GM for Express Air Services (EAS), which handles
the airline’s regional cargo needs, “Qatar is to add two more return flights, and increase the flight frequency to six-days-a-week, excluding Sunday. “This will give us an additional 16-tons of airfreight capacity on each aircraft, on both incoming and outgoing legs – a total of 64-t of extra space.” The current routing – Doha-Johannesburg-Cape Town-Johannesburg-Doha – sees each aircraft running in excess of 90% of its cargo capacity, and Murray expects the two extra flights soon to be matching that capacity. “It’s a continual growth market,” he told FTW, “and the extra capacity will get taken up very quickly meeting the growing demand.” The Qatar Airways service primarily carries perishable cargo, with general cargo as filler, and connects into Europe and the Far East through the Doha hub as well as the Gulf states surrounding the home emirate. “At this end, we are feeding cargo into and out of Africa,” said Murray, “connecting the Qatar Airways service with Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Rwanda and Burundi. “For this we are using feeder services supplied by Comair, Zambian Airways, Pelican Air and Rwandair Express – all of which are carrying high cargo uplifts.”