Freight Britain

Over the years, the veteran heavyweight has gained valuable experience in transforming its services to coincide with the region’s airfreight growth. Its operations have steadily mushroomed throughout the Middle East, including online stations currently located in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain.

“British Airways World Cargo has quite a historic presence in the Middle East. As one of the first carriers to enter this market, we actually launched our regional cargo and passenger services at the same time,” explains John Cheetham, BAWC’s regional commercial manager for the Middle East and South Asia.

“Even 75 years ago, the Middle East was considered a strong transhipment hub and the market has consistently grown stronger and stronger over the years. This has played a very important role in our growth,” he adds.

BAWC predominantly carries garments through this region, which are produced in countries such as India, Pakistan and China, where labour is relatively cheap. This cargo is normally transported by sea freight into the Middle East, where it is consolidated and subsequently uploaded onto the British Airways fleet, ready for onward travel into Europe or the United States.

“The majority of these garments are destined to the United States, where BAWC has a particularly strong network, covering approximately 40 stations. This gives us a strong competitive advantage, because we can offer a speedier service to customers,” says Cheetham.

Earlier this year, British Airways World Cargo further increased its operations between the Middle East and South Asia, with weekly services connecting Bahrain to the Pakistani cities of Karachi and Lahore. The routes, which are being operated using Boeing 727 freighters, additionally include London, thereby providing customers in Pakistan with greater access to European destinations.

“We have successful and long standing relationships with several companies across Pakistan. It’s another extremely important country for BAWC and we want to expand our presence in both the south and north of the country. These two destinations will help achieve this goal and ensure each customer’s cargo is being delivered in the most efficient manner possible,” says Cheetham.

“We carry a lot of garments on these route too, including surgical types. If these services are successful, which is something we fully expect, then BAWC will definitely start looking at the possibility of extending our presence even further and finding other gateways into the country,” he adds.

With such a flurry of activity through the Middle East, it seems British Airways World Cargo has undoubtedly benefited from its early involvement in the Middle East’s airfreight industry. However, with a growing number of regional and international operators currently vying for business, the competition has become increasingly cutthroat throughout the region.
“A lot of additional carriers have started to serve the Middle East cargo market, not only international players such as British Airways World Cargo, but also regional carriers too, which are expanding quite rapidly. So the competition has become strong all the way through, although we are trying to differentiate ourselves through our products and services. Obviously we have strong historical relationships with various countries and solid business relationships with customers too. We’re providing access to a truly global network, which is something a lot of competitors cannot possibly offer,” says Cheetham.

“We’re very close to our customers. It’s not about looking for one-off shipments in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. Instead, we try to provide the type of reliable and high quality service that results in customer loyalty. There will always be a certain amount of demand, so if we maintain service levels for customers, we can continue to get consistent support from them, whether its during a market boom or more lenient times,” he adds.

Keeping apace with industry developments remains a focal point on BAWC’s agenda. The range of services being offered to customers is constantly developing, taking into account any shifts in demand. For example, a ‘constant climate’ service was launched last year, designed specifically for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. As the name suggests, freight such as sensitive drugs and vaccines are delivered with a constant temperature throughout the journey, through the use of Envirotainer containers – ULDs that are able to keep freight inside at the same temperature for up to 72 hours. The service was initially launched for select destinations in Europe, United States and Canada, but later expanded to regions such as the Middle East.

“The movement of temperature controlled goods is the fastest growing sector in the air cargo market and the launch of constant climate demonstrates BAWC’s commitment to supplying our customers with specialist products that make a significant difference to their business,” says Cheetham.

“It’s important to keep pace with industry changes and we’re constantly developing our service offering to reflect shifts in customer demand. On a global level, we channelled significant investment into our products, facilities and network during the last financial year,” he adds.

As part of this initiative, British Airways World Cargo renewed it’s wet-lease of three Boeing 747-400 freighters from Global Supply Systems (GSS) earlier this year. The five-year contract, representing the largest ever freighter investment by British Airways, had total operating costs of over US$1 billion.

“This investment was a clear sign of the value that British Airways places on cargo activities and further improves our strong customer proposition. Going forward, we will continue to service the existing demand for premium products and work closely with our customers to ensure that we deliver a worldclass service, backed with unparalleled reach of our network,” says Cheetham.

Within the Middle East, future investments could include a facility at the forthcoming Dubai World Central airport, which is expected to become the world’s largest cargo hub, with a capacity equal to that currently of Chicago’s O’Hare and London’s Heathrow.

“Dubai World Central is a huge investment and some of our key customers have already expressed an interest in establishing warehouse and office facilities in the free zone. We are currently brainstorming ideas on how to service those customers,” reveals Cheetham. “Dubai World Central will ultimately eclipse Dubai International Airport and, at that stage, we expect to see a large shift of activity. I think we’ll definitely need some representation there as part of our Middle East expansion plan.”