The U.S. government’s suspension of more than three dozen passenger flights operated by Chinese passenger airlines in retaliation against China’s COVID policies restricting U.S. carrier operations will also remove widebody belly capacity for cargo, further stressing supply chains straining to keep up with international trade demand.
Ramifications for shippers extend beyond the U.S., with the Department of Transportation saying the governments of France and Germany have taken similar action...
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Air Canada (TSX: AC) is reducing passenger system capacity by 25% and laying off 1,700 workers in the first quarter due to new Canadian travel restrictions aimed at curbing the resurgence of COVID-19, the company said Wednesday.
More than 200 employees in the airline’s regional express division are also being furloughed. Air Canada said it is working with unions to mitigate the impact on employees. The company released 20,000 workers in May.
The first-quarter reduction in flights will put...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/air-canada-suspends-routes-as-covid-restrictions-bite-travel
The peak of the peak season is in full swing for international airfreight. For buyers, that means higher costs and delays finding available slots for air and ocean shipments, while transportation and logistics providers reap bigger profits per load.
The Southeast Asia and China export markets are especially hot and could boil into December. Spot rates out of China to North America started climbing again early this month as air capacity tightened and are approaching $6 per kilogram, according to...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/peak-shipping-season-for-air-cargo-heats-up-to-full-boil
Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines (NYSE: ALK) followed United Airlines’ (NASDAQ: UAL) lead on Sunday in permanently eliminating unpopular fees for changing reservations on all but the cheapest tickets. The moves are the latest survival tactic by airlines, which are planning to involuntarily furlough tens of thousands of workers next month without further government aid.
Domestic leisure bookings marginally improved in the past week, down 52% from a year ago compared to 55%...
Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) is the only major U.S. airline that currently plans to take advantage of federal authorization to strip passenger aircraft of their seats and substitute boxes of cargo.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) a month ago issued an exemption for domestic airlines to operate aircraft with floor-loaded cargo in the cabin, but the determination came after an airfreight bubble. Industry watchers wondered whether rates were still high enough to justify the conversion...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/exclusive-delta-air-lines-cabins-to-go-naked
Outbound airfreight rates from China continued to rise for the fifth consecutive week, with pricing the strongest out of Shanghai as shipments increased for electronics, e-commerce orders, and hospital gear.
The pricing trend is good for carriers. But it means higher costs for cargo owners, especially with a large amount of all-cargo capacity already committed to big gadget launches from Sony, Apple and Samsung in the next couple months. There also is uncertainty about how many aircraft...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/pressure-on-air-cargo-rates-from-china-keeps-increasing
Cathay Pacific Airways (OTCUS: CPCAY) is sending part of its fleet overseas to ride out the coronavirus pandemic in drier locations where weather conditions are more forgiving than in humid Hong Kong.
About one-third of Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon aircraft will be sent to locations with drier conditions in the coming months to help keep them in optimal condition, Ronald Lam, chief customer and commercial officer, said in the August edition of the company’s cargo newsletter.
Cathay Dragon is...
https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/cathay-pacific-sending-planes-to-australia-for-storage-during-pandemic
Korean Air leveraged its cargo operation to turn a profit in the second quarter when nearly every other passenger airline has reported enormous losses after COVID-19 travel restrictions brought most flight operations to a standstill.
The South Korean carrier has one advantage that many pure passenger airlines lack – freighters. The company said it increased the operation rate of its freighter fleet and maximized cargo supply on passenger airplanes to generate an operating profit of $123.7...
https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/freighters-to-the-rescue-korean-air-posts-q2-profit
The outlook for economic recovery and better health for airlines is more pessimistic and that’s bad news for manufacturers and other shippers seeing input costs rise due to higher transport prices in the COVID era.
Passenger airlines are reporting huge second-quarter losses, terminating employees and slowing the reintroduction of flights as the coronavirus flares up. Fewer flights means fewer transport options for shippers already facing a supply shortage, but full-freighter operators – and freig...
