A Qatar Airways Cargo Airbus A330 freighter touched down at London’s Heathrow Airport yesterday, marking the start of freighter services to the carrier’s second airport in London.
Qatar Airways Cargo currently operates freighters to London’s Stansted Airport and also transports cargo on passenger flights to and from Birmingham, Edinburgh, London Heathrow and Manchester. With the new freighter service, the carrier’s total cargo capacity out of the United Kingdom increases to more than 1,500 tonnes each week. The new freighter service departs weekly from Doha on Saturdays and returns via Basel.
Ulrich Ogiermann, Qatar Airways Chief Officer Cargo, said: “The commencement of the freighter services to London Heathrow marks our sixth new freighter destination for 2017 and boosts our current belly-hold capacity available on 72 passenger flights to the United Kingdom every week. We are expanding our network globally, offering customers direct access to major trade markets such as the United Kingdom via our state-of-the-art fully-automated hub in Doha.”
The cargo carrier offers air freight services to the principal industries in the UK, including electronics and telecoms, vehicles and auto parts, engineering, information technology, pharmaceuticals, biotech and health, and perishables, providing speed of delivery, flexibility and security for high-value products.
Qatar Airways Cargo recently commenced five new freighter destinations to the Americas and Asia: Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Quito, Miami and Phnom Penh, while also increasing frequencies to Brussels, Basel and Hong Kong in response to growing air freight demand in these regions. The cargo carrier has seen a 21% increase in tonnage from 2015 to 2016, despite the air cargo industry remaining competitive due to an underperforming economy.