Cathay Pacific Cargo said it is expecting a strong end of the year while outlining ongoing challenges in capacity and a ULD shortage on the transpacific.  

Tom Owen, director for cargo at Cathay Pacific said the carrier also continues to be affected by the recent positive Covid-19 cases among its pilots after three of Cathay's freighter pilots tested for the coronavirus earlier this month following a layover in Frankfurt.

"We are gearing up for a strong end to the year and working hard to maximise the capacity we have at our disposal," Owen said.

He noted that along with Cathay Cargo's freighters, which it is "flying more than ever," Cathay is also adding capacity with charters and operating an array of aircraft for cargo-only passenger services, including six Boeing 777s that can carry cargo in the passenger cabin — with an additional two 777s to enter operations early next year.

Despite the efforts of Cathay's team around the world, Owens outlined the challenges of ongoing quarantine requirements for its crew in the midst of increasing demand as supply chains remain scarce of capacity as passenger planes remain largely grounded due to Covid-19.

"Our teams around the world are doing everything they can to satisfy customer demand, but no one is immune to the unique challenges of these times – not least our tireless and resilient pilots, who have done so much to keep our cargo flying and now face tougher testing and quarantine requirements," Owen added.

"Unfortunately, the recent positive cases recorded among our flight crew require adjustments to our European schedule but we will continue to work hard to find solutions to replace this capacity at the earliest opportunity," he added.

ULD shortages for transpacific

Owen also noted concern on the availability of ULDs.

"Global constraints in the supply chain are also impacting our operation to some degree, particularly on the transpacific routes around the availability of pallets and ULDs. It is taking much longer for units to be delivered back to our warehouses in the US after collection by the consignee," the Cathay Pacific Cargo director said. "Backlogs in both our and consignee warehouses, along with shortages of trucks and labour issues, are combining to make this very challenging."

To address this, Owen added that Cathay is working to ensure "sufficient supplies" in Hong Kong for its ustomers including leasing more units, incentivising faster turnarounds in the US, and accelerating repair processes.

"Our regional teams remain very focused on this and we will be getting more containers back into the system quicker," he added.

Capacity constraints also remains to be a challenge for Cathay Pacific Cargo, much like the rest of the aviation industry.

In the same statement, Owen noted that although the Cathay team are working "flat out," given all these challenges "capacity remains well down compared to 2019."

Cathay Pacific operated around 70% of its pre-pandemic (October 2019) cargo capacity in October.

"We had expected to be operating many more passenger services by this point, but this has not eventuated. This is putting more constraints on our capacity and upwards pressure on market rates, which are unprecedented on many trade lanes, particularly transpacific," he added, citing the high requirements during the peak season.