Capital A’s (formerly AirAsia Group) long-haul carrier AirAsia X has signed an agreement with a fellow group company for the carriage of cargo on their aircraft.
AirAsia X entered an agreement with its fellow Capital A firm and logistics venture Teleport for the full belly space utilization of a third of the long-haul arm’s wide-body A330 fleet. Effective for a year from February 14, the use of the additional capacity provided by AirAsia X’s A330s would enable Teleport to fulfill its customer requirements within the region.
“We are happy to work closer with AAX (AirAsia X) on their A330 fleet as an integral cargo carrier. In addition to our dedicated 737-800 freighter, the added A330 aircraft from AAX allows us to provide more capacity access for our customers to serve the demand in the region while operating from our main hubs in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok,” said Teleport COO Adrian Loretz.
The announcement comes after AirAsia X – which has been mostly grounded following the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020 – entered into a business restructuring.
Following the start of the restructuring program, the airline has stepped up efforts in air freight services, along with looking for opportunities to restart regularly scheduled passenger flights. AirAsia X previously announced a strategic partnership with global logistics firm GEODIS to mount several weekly dedicated cargo flights throughout the Asia Pacific. Recently, the airline announced the restart of passenger flights to Sydney in mid-February.
For the immediate future as countries begin to reopen their borders, AirAsia X is in ongoing discussions with clients for air cargo requirements as a way to generate much needed revenue.
“We are also in discussions with several other major global clients that have air cargo requirements, particularly to where we have established bases and flying rights. It’s just two months post our restructuring and the appetite for expansion of our cargo operations is significant. This dovetails neatly into one of the core pillars of our combination carrier strategy. For the foreseeable future, cargo revenue will underpin our route strategy and passenger revenue for the first time, will be ancillary,” said AirAsia X CEO Benyamin Ismail.
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