Qatar Airways Cargo said that starting on February 2, it will send an Airbus A330 passenger freighter to Penang, Malaysia, four times a week on Qatar Airways’ passenger flights to Phuket, Thailand. This will make it possible to ship cargo again.

This gives Qatar Airways Cargo an extra more than 70 tonnes of space each week, which will be fed into its international network through its Doha hub.

The service adds to the seven bellyhold flights that already go to Kuala Lumpur every week, giving customers access to more than 200 tonnes of cargo space from Malaysia.

Guillaume Halleux, the chief officer of cargo for Qatar Airways Cargo, said, “Qatar Airways Cargo is putting its careful Next Generation approach into place across its network, aiming for the best use of resources in line with customer needs.”

“Our network planning team saw a great chance in the time that the passenger A330 flight was on the ground in Phuket. They worked hard to set up a well-timed, interim passenger-freighter connection to Penang and back to get the most cargo into and out of Malaysia’s second-busiest cargo airport.

“This Next Generation-style multi-modal strategy changes Qatar Airways’ Doha-Phuket passenger connection into a Phuket-Penang-Phuket passenger-freighter for four days a week, before it goes back to Doha as a passenger service with lower deck cargo.”

“The way we re-launched our Penang connections in a new and different way shows how much Qatar Airways Cargo wants and is able to connect our customers in the best way possible.

With the exception of mail, all types of goods can go to the destination. The most exports come from Penang, which is the largest state in Malaysia. Most electronics and electrical equipment, general cargo, and fragile cargo are sent by air.

IATA’s World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) for 2021 show that, in terms of scheduled cargo tonne km (CTK), Qatar Airways is the second largest cargo airline in the world.

Qatar Airways became the first customer for the new Boeing B777-8 freighter at the start of 2022. They ordered 34 of the planes and had options for 16 more.

The airline also got three new B777 freighters at the start of 2021.

Info source – Air Cargo News