From 2020 to 2022, due to the impact of the epidemic, the international freight market continued to be hot, air freight made huge profits, and it was difficult to get a plane and a cabin.
Airlines with wide-body freighters have made the most money in history.
As all aspects return to normal, many people believe that the current economic growth pressure is high, and international trade exchanges are facing challenges from various factors, and international air freight will definitely be affected.
Unexpectedly, this year's international cargo and mail transportation showed a trend of rising volume and price, which was beyond the expectations of most people.
Especially cross-border trade is extremely hot, driving the hot international air freight business.
From the current point of view, international air freight is still a good track. From the perspective of all civil aviation, there are a total of 13 cargo airlines, and the companies under the three major airlines still have the most wide-body cargo:
AVIC Group: Air China Cargo
China Eastern Airlines Group: China Eastern Airlines Logistics
China Southern Airlines Group: China Southern Airlines Logistics
Compared with this, the proportion of wide-body aircraft of SF Airlines under SF Express, the largest air cargo company in my country and the leader of the private express delivery industry, is still not high.
So far, SF Airlines has 85 all-cargo aircraft, including:
17 Boeing B737 series
4 Boeing B747-400ERF
43 Boeing B757-200F
21 Boeing B767-300F
25 wide-body aircraft are still relatively old B747 and B767 aircraft.
China Eastern Airlines Logistics and China Southern Airlines Logistics have all replaced their fleets with B777s, and Air China Cargo is also mainly based on B777s.
SF Airlines, which has an advantage in domestic cargo aviation, also wants to get a share of the international market.
Since last year, Middle Eastern countries have increased their cooperation and investment in my country.
Recently, SF Airlines and Etihad Cargo established a joint venture.
On September 19, Etihad Airways and SF Airlines signed a memorandum of understanding in Shenzhen, formally clarifying the plan to establish a joint venture.
Through this joint venture project, the two parties will further integrate their resource advantages, deepen cooperation in the field of air cargo, and create more comprehensive logistics solutions for global customers. Based on the establishment of the joint venture, the two parties will achieve more breakthroughs in aircraft capacity deployment, transportation schedule optimization, route network expansion, and international business integration.
As one of the rich airlines in the Middle East, Etihad Airways has strong financial resources.
So far, it has 108 aircraft, including 50 A380 aircraft.
In terms of freighters, it has 5 B777 all-freighters.
However, Etihad Airways is relatively weak in cargo aviation, so cooperating with SF Airlines is also a way to quickly enter the air cargo track.
It is reported that in 2023, SF Airlines and Etihad Cargo have begun to cooperate in operating international cargo routes, strengthening the connectivity of the two sides' route networks through space exchange, intermodal transport, etc., to achieve resource sharing and complementary advantages.
In July 2024, the two sides increased the frequency of cargo flights between Ezhou and Shenzhen and Abu Dhabi, UAE, with a weekly domestic outbound air transport capacity of more than 600 tons, continuing to help China-UAE economic and trade cooperation and the in-depth promotion of the "Belt and Road" initiative.
In the future, what kind of sparks can these two aviation giants create? Let's wait and see!