IAG Cargo boosts Hong Kong freight hub
IAG Cargo, the cargo business of British Airways and Iberia, is expanding its operations in Asia Pacific with the introduction of an additional air freighter service into Hong Kong. With this new service, IAG Cargo offers customers six freighter flights into the territory per week, boosting Hong Kong¿s position as an important hub for the carrier while supporting business growth in the region. The additional flight started on a scheduled basis on October 31 out of London and supports the two daily British Airways flights into the territory.
Steve Gunning, Managing Director at IAG Cargo, commented: "Hong Kong is an incredibly important trade centre, not least for the garment and consumer electronics sectors and we have seen good growth from the region to all destinations. Our additional capacity will be welcome as businesses gear up for the peak Christmas season and we expect to see increasing volumes of consumer goods coming out of Hong Kong over the next few months."
The additional flight will be serviced by a Boeing 747-8 freighter and will depart Hong Kong airport at 0605 on Saturday mornings. The flight to Hong Kong will stop in Frankfurt and will return to London via New Delhi. The service connects businesses to IAG Cargo's network of 350 destinations and helps them take advantage of high-growth markets such as Latin America, where IAG Cargo offers one of strongest networks on the market.
Steve Gunning concluded: "The stop in India is a huge benefit for our customers as the Hong Kong-Delhi route is vital for a range of businesses. We believe our new cargo services in the region will offer us a real strategic advantage over the competition and helps further underline our core businesses differentiator: the strength and depth of our network."
With this additional freighter, IAG Cargo now provides the Hong Kong market with around 700 tonnes of freighter lift a week in addition to the established line flights which can provide about 200 tonnes per week in the belly-hold of passenger aircraft.