Significant capacity upgrade on Europe-Africa route

Last Wednesday saw the
official launch by British
Airways World Cargo and
Iberia – the single cargo
business unit of International
Airlines Group (IAG) – of
its new B747-8 freighter,
Boeing’s latest-generation
aircraft.
The aircraft is scheduled
to fly from Stansted on a
Monday and will arrive in
Johannesburg early Tuesday
morning before departing for
Nairobi on Tuesday evening
at approximately 19:00 local
time. It arrives in Nairobi at
midnight and then departs
for Zaragoza at 02:00, before
arriving back at Stansted on
Wednesday morning.
“Africa is predominantly
a perishable market and we
continue to see strong support
in this area. Growth for us
takes the form of general
cargo with the introduction
of the freighter aircraft into
Africa. We do currently fly
general cargo on the line
flights but having main deck
capability allows us to grow
in this particular product
vertically,” Mark Stubbings,
BA World Cargo regional
manager for Africa, told FTW.
“By sharing the routing
with Nairobi, I believe we are
very well positioned to bring
an aircraft of this size into
the Africa market,” Stubbings
said.
“The ability to carry
outsized cargo that cannot be
carried on the line flights due
to belly capacity constraints
in the size and weight is part
of the rationale for doing
this. The freighter allows us
to move such things as cars,
specialist vehicles and various
other items that just cannot fit
on a standard aircraft, plus the
perishable business already
available.
“We offer direct access to
Spain, the UK and Europe,
plus the ability to connect to
both the Iberia and British
Airways networks.”
He said that the
collaboration between BA
and Iberia to form IAG was
a perfect opportunity to tie
the UK with Spain and then
Africa.
When asked about the
growth of trade between the
Far East and Africa, Stubbings
commented: “We continue
to operate freighter aircraft
between the Far East and the
UK/Europe. Having the
B747-8 allows this business to
continue to grow into and out
of Africa. It also allows us to
grow our share of the capacity
in all markets due to the larger
capacity of the new aircraft.”
The new “Dash-8” 747-8
freighters can accommodate
16% more cargo volume and
are 5.6 metres longer than the
Boeing 747-400, making them
the largest freight aircraft
in Africa.