Is EFA/QF Freight on the slide?
 

Earlier this year Qantas Freight announced our intent to lease a Boeing 747-400ERF freighter. In recent months the international air freight market has continued to soften, and it is with regret that we have decided not to proceed with the lease of this aircraft.

This has been a tough decision, but it’s a prudent one given the significant overcapacity we’re seeing in the international market.*These challenges are not unique to Qantas Freight - many carriers are reducing their services and active fleet and avoiding this type of expenditure at this time. Our industry is cyclical and we will re-examine our options when markets have strengthened.

I want to thank our Express Freighters Australia team for all the great work they have done on this program, and I am genuinely disappointed that we cannot proceed in light of the current market conditions.

Meanwhile, our current 747 freighter schedule remains in place – there’s no change to our current operation. Qantas Freight remains a strong business and all the decisions we make are designed to keep our business strong into the future.*

We continue to invest in other initiatives in line with our strategy of improving our customer offering and driving efficiency.

Regards,

Manager Executive


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If it's true, there will be a couple of fairly angry people who left other jobs for the 747 gig.

From what I hear, not necessarily to take up positions on the 747 but start on the 737 and hopefully progress as the operation "expanded" ?
Anyone like to guess what will happen as the Atlas contracts expire ??

Role on.......

I thought the Atlas contract had already expired....... go figure

' Meanwhile, our current 747 freighter schedule remains in place '
What's this then? do QF have a 74 Freighter?

Great decision to sell off the money making courier business last year and buying the other 50 % of the low profit freight business. Not ! No point having a non core part of the business if its making money eh ! Geniuses at work.

All part of the grand plan to get the incumbent contractor to lower their price?

Cancelling the B747 ERF appears to have been the correct decision
 

Large passenger planes creating cargo capacity glut: IATA

The entry of new wide-body passenger planes capable of carrying large loads of cargo is slowing down a recovery in the struggling air freight business, the International Air Transport Association chief said Wednesday.

An increasing number of larger planes such as the Boeing 777-300 ER and Airbus A330-300, catering to growing passenger numbers, has led to an oversupply of cargo capacity at a time when demand for freight transport is lean, said IATA Director General Tony Tyler.

"Every time a new wide-body passenger aircraft takes to the air, it brings with it significant cargo-carrying capacity," he told reporters in Singapore.

"With (cargo) demand being weak, and capacity supply growing, what you see is competition forcing yields down," said Tyler. who is in the city-state to attend an international air freight conference.

In September IATA cut its forecast for growth in air cargo traffic this year to 0.9 percent, down from an earlier estimate of 1.5 percent, while predicting that passenger demand will grow at 5.0 percent in 2013.

The Canada-based industry group said, however, that it expects a significant improvement in global cargo growth to 3.7 percent next year.

Meanwhile Asia-Pacific freight carriers, which have been impacted by slowing demand for goods manufactured in the region, are facing stiff competition from Middle East rivals, Tyler said.

The latest IATA data showed Asia-Pacific airlines' freight demand declined 0.2 percent in August compared to the previous year, while Middle Eastern carriers saw growth of 23.8 percent in the same period.

by Jonathan FOWLER, Mohammad DAVARI © 2013 AFP

Source : AFP

Dont go thinking QF will buy any 777-300ERs or 747-8Fs now! They way they do things they will probably take an A330 which has done the QF/JQ switch 50 times & turn it into a freighter just like they did with 733s

As I understand it, passenger A330's cannot be converted to freighters.

All current A330 freighters were purpose-built, and have a different nose gear arrangement to enable a level sill for loading of cans.

Speaking to the EK crew in Melbourne recently, along with a few of the big Q escapees over to the sandpit, it seems the same formula for pax is working with cargo. One stop all over the world.

Apparently the 777 carries a fair whack of freight even with a full load of pax, and the freighter seems to be a regular sight in Sydney now. From what they said, direct services to DXB are generally MTOW, and all the services via Asia are MZFW, which means their staff travel prospects to and from Australia take a hit.

Perhaps they are doing to the freight market now what they have done to the pax market. A global mega hub.

Then again, they can't be that smart since of course they don't have the right aircraft to do it with (according to our esteemed leaders).