Qatar Airways Cargo announced that it would recommence belly capacity services to Penang, Malaysia, from February 2, 2023.

The airline said it would operate an A330 passenger freighter to Penang via Qatar Airways' passenger flights to Phuket four times a week.

Qatar said this adds more than 70 tonnes of available capacity each week, which will feed into Qatar Airways Cargo's extensive international network via its state-of-the-art Doha hub.

The service also complements the existing seven weekly belly-hold flights to the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, providing customers with over 200 tonnes of cargo capacity from Malaysia.

"Qatar Airways Cargo is implementing its meticulous Next Generation approach throughout its network, aiming for optimum resource deployment in alignment with customer requirements," said Guillaume Halleux, chief officer of cargo at Qatar Airways Cargo.

"Our network planning team saw a perfect opportunity in the passenger A330 flight's ground time in Phuket and have worked hard to establish a well-scheduled, interim passenger-freighter connection to Penang and back to maximise the cargo capacity into and out of Malaysia's second-busiest cargo airport," he added.

Halleux noted that this Next Generation-style "multi-modal strategy" sees Qatar Airways' Doha-Phuket passenger connection becoming a Phuket-Penang-Phuket passenger-freighter for four days of the week before returning to Doha again as a passenger service with lower deck cargo.

"The re-launch of our Penang connections in an innovative and unique manner illustrates our ambition and ability at Qatar Airways Cargo to provide connectivity to our customers in the best possible way," Qatar's chief officer of cargo added.

The airline noted that, with the exception of Mail, the destination is open for all commodity types.

Penang is the largest export-contributing state within Malaysia, with mostly electronics/electrical equipment, general cargo and vulnerable cargo being sent by air.