Latin America's largest cargo operator is boosting its freighter fleet, but expansion across the Pacific is not on the cards for the time being, despite growing demand for a main-deck connection between Asia and Latin America.
LAN Cargo has ordered a fourth Boeing 777 freighter and is leasing three B767-300 cargo aircraft in response to buoyant demand. The smaller all-cargo planes are entering service over the coming months, while the 105-tonne 777 is scheduled for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2012, the same period when another 777F is due to join LAN's fleet.
However, the carrier has no immediate plans to mount a much-coveted transpacific freighter operation. For now management prefers to concentrate on intra-regional growth and its transatlantic
link.
Having deployed its first two B777 freighters across the Atlantic last year, LAN had signalled that it intended to use the next 777F to mount flights to Asia. Driven by rapidly expanding trade between the regions, notably between China and Brazil, shippers and forwarders have been clamouring for such a link. That desire has increased in the wake of Japan Airlines' termination of its passenger flights between its home market and Brazil.
"We want to connect Brazil with the world," said Cristian Ureta, chief executive officer of LAN Cargo. "We see demand to connect Brazil with Asia."
However, the long sector makes it challenging for carriers to make such an operation profitable. For the most part, Asian operators prefer to funnel air freight headed for Brazil to Miami, where it connects to freighter departures to the southern hemisphere. LAN Cargo has interline agreements with several Asian carriers to move cargo over Miami and also uses Los Angeles, to a lesser extent, for that purpose.
"For direct flights you need a very efficient plan. We are evaluating that now," Ureta remarked.
Cargonews Asia
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