While news about conflicts and crises in certain parts of the Middle East and Africa has reduced passenger travel to these locations, a number of airfreight carriers continue to see economic promise in some of the most unstable and hazardous areas.
In most of these cases, the cargo routes that still operate are about more than mere global commerce; they are lifelines that provide vital supplies to help keep the local populations alive. Here is a roundup of a few carriers and freight handlers that manage to provide these services in the hope that some of these dangerous hot spots will cool down in the near future.
China, Russia Assist with Ebola battle
As the focus of the world’s attention on the West African outbreak of the Ebola virus intensifies, cargo airlines continue to step in and do their part.
For example, in the last few months Volga-Dnepr Airlines has flown one of its An-124-100 freighters to Kinshasa, Congo; Accra, Ghana; Bamako, Mali; Bissau, Guinea-Bissau; and Abidjan Ivory Coast, delivering urgently needed equipment to help fight the outbreak of the Ebola virus in the region.
Operating in accordance with the recommendations of the United Nations Security Council, the flights to the five cities originated from Tianjin, China, each carrying five 20-ton containers of relief supplies donated by the Chinese government. The cargo included one-use protective suits, respirators, glasses, boot covers and other protective equipment being used by healthcare workers in the afflicted areas.
Another Volga-Dnepr flight on Oct. 14 involved the transport of three Mi-8 helicopters on behalf of the UN emergency health mission responding to the Ebola outbreak. The An-124 flight began in Moscow, Russia, and delivered the helicopters to Freetown, Sierra Leone.
To the shores of Tripoli
Libya’s Tripoli International Airport (TIP) has been shut down since July, when two rival militia groups began battling for control over the facility during the Libyan Civil War. Today, about 90 percent of the aircraft and structures at the airport lie in ruin a few miles south of the nation’s capital.
Despite the ongoing conflict, some passenger and cargo flights have switched to Mitiga International (MJI), a small but more centrally located facility near the Mediterranean coast. MJI is also the headquarters of Global Aviation, which runs a warehouse at the airport and operates a 747-200 freighter leased from a Pakistani owner.
This September, Global Aviation – which also operates a weekly flight from Sharjah, United Arab Emerates, to Tripoli – was cleared by the Libyan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to resume flights roughly every two weeks from MJI to Ostend-Bruge International in Belgium. A spokesperson from Global’s GSA, Strike Aviation, told The Loadstar that most of the cargo that has been shipped so far has been pharmaceutical products, hospital equipment and live animals.
Meanwhile, on the eastern side of the war-torn country, there have been reports in the local media about the reopening of Benina International Airport in Benghazi, which has been closed since May due to continued factional fighting. Benina was a secondary hub for the government-owned Libyan Airlines, which operates 13 aircraft, including three A320-200a, one A330-200, two ATR- 42s and three CRJ-900s; four of the carrier’s aircraft were damaged in the conflict at TIP, but the airline is said to have six A350-900s on order.
According to The Libyan Herald, the CAA is investigating the feasibility of resuming passenger and cargo flights before the end of 2014, while officials were inspecting of the runways, taxiways, terminals and air navigation aids that had been damaged. At press time in early November, however, there was no clear indication as to which militia was in charge of the country.
Hope for northern Iraq
Even in northern Iraq, ground zero for this year’s ISIS/ISIL uprising, at least one company, dnata, is optimistic that its cargo operations will become successful again in spite of its location in Kurdish-controlled territories.
Dubai-based ground handling firm dnata holds the cargo contract at Iraq’s Erbil International Airport (EBL), servicing a wide range of cargo-carrying airlines, including Air Arabia, Etihad, Emirates, flydubai, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian and Turkish Airlines. Most of the cargo shipments were lucrative contracts involving oil and gas exploration in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.
After launching operations at EBL in 2010, cargo volumes handled by dnata quickly quadrupled to 40,000 tonnes per year by the spring of 2014. The city of Erbil was seen at the time as a relatively stable economic oasis in a country still reeling from the Iraq War.
In June, however, the Islamic State forces began their attacks in northwest Iraq and neighboring Syria. For a several tense weeks, most passenger and cargo flights were grounded. Eventually, some major carriers began to return, realizing that Erbil, located several miles east of the crisis zone, posed little threat of attracting military action. In August, Lufthansa resumed its twice-weekly passenger service to EBL. Fellow Lufthansa Group carrier Austrian Airlines also returned with daily service that month.
Although much of the passenger service through EBL has returned to pre-ISIS levels, cargo traffic has yet to recover, said Ross Marino, dnata’s senior vice president, international airport operations. Speaking to Air Cargo News in October, he said, “The business won’t come back until the longer-term situation is clearer, but we see good growth prospects there.”