Carry that weight
For large carriers, handling 1 million-plus annual tonnes, the names this year were all familiar, as the winners from 2015 all returned to the stage to collect the same accolades. The winner in the category was, again, Emirates SkyCargo, and Michael Laschet, the cargo manager for SkyCargo’s German operations, was on hand to accept the Diamond Award. The Platinum Award in the category went to Lufthansa Cargo AG. The third-place Gold Award in the jumbo carrier category was Korean Air.
For the mid-range carriers, handling between 400,000 and 999,999 tonnes per year, Asiana Airlines took the top Diamond Award, while Etihad Airways secured the Platinum Award. Etihad had strong cargo volume in 2015, with 592,090 tonnes of freight and mail flown, a 4 percent increase year-over-year. “It’s a growth performance that is continuing to outperform the wider cargo industry,” said John Greenway, corporate communications manager. “The Etihad Cargo division is now generating over US$1 billion in revenue annually while the airline accounted for 88 percent of cargo imports, exports and transfers at Abu Dhabi International Airport last year.”
IAG Group, which won a Platinum award the previous year for the medium-sized carrier category just missed the cut this year, but that may be because it handled more than 1 million tonnes of cargo in 2015, placing it in the larger, perhaps more competitive 1 million-plus club. “While 2015 was a challenging year for all cargo operators, exercising strict capacity management where needed and growing our premium products through investing in infrastructure, network and expertise has enabled us to deliver in a tough market,” said Drew Crawley, CEO of IAG Cargo. Last year, he added, was “particularly successful for the performance of IAG Cargo’s premium products,” such as Constant Climate, which grew 37 percent, in revenue terms.
Rounding out the carrier awards section of the awards event, one of the biggest surprises of the evening came when Air Canada Cargo won the Diamond Award for the small carrier category (handling up to 399,999 tonnes per year). For several consecutive years, Southwest Airlines had taken the Diamond Award, but this year Air Canada took home the trophy while Virgin Atlantic Airways was named as a Platinum Award winner.
Southwest was not left out, however, winning the Gold Award. “2015 was a great year for Southwest Airlines Cargo,” said Matt Buckley, vice president of cargo and charters for Southwest. “We’re focused on growing our existing business while looking toward the future which includes looking at potential opportunities to take Southwest Cargo to our international destinations.”
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