2015 will be the year for cargo area of the Colombian airline Avianca. Even though they assume that the economic downturn has slowed the overall market, their projections are optimistic and they want to secure their routes to Europe and Asia.
As a matter o fact, they aspire to grow 8% in billed cargo and 12% in tons transported.
The vice president of the airline's cargo unit, Victor Mejia stated that, at the global level, the company had grown by 22% in kilos of cargo transported between January and April this year, which includes the entire network of freighters and passenger aircraft bellies, when compared to the same period of 2014.
In addition, he said, the average occupancy rose 62% in the first four months of the year over the same period in 2014.
In Chile, where they have been operating since November 2013, there was an increase of 19% in 2014. The products that they transport the most from Chile are trout fillet, salmon fillet, blueberries, peaches, cherries and medicine, he said. Santiago de Chile accounted for 4.1% of total revenues and 2.9% of the tons moved in 2014.
"This year, Avianca Cargo is focused on its strategy of regional expansion, which began last year. We've increased our capacity by 15% for 2015 and we have increased the cargo billed by the same percentage," Mejia said.
The company has been working in the renewal and homologation of their freighter fleet, replacing four B767-200 aircraft for five A330-200 planes, which give the company 56% more capacity per flight (up to 64 tons of cargo).
The executive is optimistic about the future behaviour of the air cargo sector in the medium-term, even though he acknowledges that, according to IATA figures contained in the Air Freight Market Analysis report of March 2015, "given the slowdown in world trade in recent years, growth in the cargo industry has become slower."
However, he said, "the recovery of the global economy is expected to lead to a moderate expansion of air freight". Rates of aircraft utilization and load factors will continue to be challenged by capacity expansion driven by the increased availability of wide-body aircraft.
"Cargo traffic in Latin America was affected by the economic slowdown in the region, the continued tariff decrease and the depreciation of currencies, such as the Colombian peso, the Peruvian sol, the Mexican peso and the real, against the dollar," said the executive.
Source: La tercera