NEO Air Charter completed 60 widebody freighter charters in the first two months of 2024 to bypass e-commerce supply chain issues caused by the closure of the Suez Canal following the Red Sea attacks on shipping.

The 60 B747F and B777F charter flights operated from Hong Kong to various destinations in Europe, the USA, and Central America.NEO chartered full flights carrying e-commerce traffic between shippers and consignees through major logistics service providers, in accordance with their strict trade-only policy.

"In case anyone was in any doubt, the Red Sea attacks are causing a lot of time-sensitive traffic to switch to airfreight," said Brian Davis, general manager at NEO.

"We haven't seen demand like this since the early days of Covid," he added.

Despite the urgency of the traffic, NEO noted that shippers and their agents, remain highly cost-conscious and continue to search for deals.

"NEO's instant access to large-scale capacity was a strong factor in winning the business, but we still had to prove we were providing the most competitive quotes," Davis said.

NEO has also recorded strong numbers in automotive and humanitarian aid transport.

Davis said the Germany-headquartered NEO are recruiting extra staff to help the company cope with the demand.

"This is shaping up to be the best year since our launch in 2010," the NEO executive added.