TNT targets Hong Kong – Europe cargo flights
TNT, the express courier and mail company, is in talks with AirMark, an Indonesian airline owned by mainly Malaysian interests, about launching cargo flights between Hong Kong and Europe.
Hong Kong deputy country manager Ambrose Linn said the move followed the disruption to express shipments caused by airlines cutting back scheduled services in the wake of the atypical pneumonia outbreak.
Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific cut the number of passenger flights by 45% as a result in the collapse of demand for air travel caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome while the second largest airline, Dragonair, cut services by 66%.
Mr Linn said these cutbacks and those of other airlines mauled TNT, which had to charter freighter aircraft to fly consignments to Taiwan and Singapore, often after the shipments had been taken to Macau airport by barge.
‘If we did not have the charters, we would have been crippled,’ he said. Transit times were lengthened considerably as a result of the difficulties shipping consignments, he added.
He believed some disruption would continue for another two months until flight schedules returned to normal.
Mr Linn said that as a result of the disruption, TNT is looking at running its own freighter flights.
Aircraft would leave Hong Hong and fly to TNT’s hub at Leige in Belgium before returning to Hong Kong via Singapore. Up to about 1998, TNT used dedicated Boeing 727 and British Aerospace 146 freighters belonging to Pacific Air Cargo to operate regional express cargo services.
But it now relies exclusively on commercial airlines or special charters.
Mr Linn said TNT would make a final decision on whether to launch its own freighter services by the end of this year. ‘It’s in the strategic planning stage,’ he said.
One of the concerns still to be addressed is whether operating its own freighters would adversely affect TNT’s relationship with its airline customers.
TNT managing director for China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau Bryan Chan, confirmed that TNT is also in talks with China Postal Airlines about starting express courier services in China.
China Postal Airlines, which is 49% owned by China Southern Airlines, serves 11 China cities through its Shanghai hub and a tie-up with the airline would help create a hub-and-spoke courier network in China.
TNT is planning to expand its express and logistics business in China following the ending of its 15-year joint venture with Sinotrans at the end of May.
The firm has instead formed a venture with Mach++ Worldwide Express, a specialist Beijing-based courier company which has strong links with China Post.
Copyright 2003 Lloyds List. Source: Financial Times Information Limited – Europe Intelligence Wire.
