Civil Aviation lost nearly 40 billion air cargo in the first quarter as "life-saving straw"
Qilu Evening News Qilu One Point Reporter Bai Xinxin
The sudden new coronary pneumonia epidemic has brought various degrees of impact to various industries, among which the civil aviation industry has been greatly affected.
Cancel 70% of flights in the first quarter
At the routine press conference of the Civil Aviation Administration on April 15, Xiong Jie, director of the Aviation Safety Office of the Civil Aviation Administration, introduced that China's civil aviation industry suffered a total loss of 39.82 billion yuan in the first quarter of this year, of which airline companies lost 33.62 billion yuan. In the first quarter, the civil aviation industry completed a total transport turnover of 16.52 billion ton-kilometers and passenger traffic of 74.078 million passengers, down 46.6% and 53.9% year-on-year.
The data shows that domestic airlines cancelled more than 70% of their flights in the first quarter of 2020, and the original lively Spring Festival has also become deserted. The operating data of the major airlines in the first quarter has been "horrible." With the spread of the international epidemic, airlines' overseas markets have also pressed the "pause button". Under this background, major airlines have taken the initiative to seek self-rescue. "Customer-to-cargo" is one of the ways for airlines to save themselves. Many domestic airlines, such as China Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines, have converted passenger aircraft into charter flights.
Civil Aviation Administration encourages "passenger to change cargo"
Under the epidemic situation, traditional passenger airlines have changed from carrying passengers to pulling cargo.Compared with the mature full-time freight airlines that have already operated, what are the competitiveness of passenger airlines to pull cargo?
The first is government support. At a press conference held by the State Council's Joint Defense and Joint Control Mechanism on March 29, Zhang Qing, second-level inspector of the Development Planning Department of the Civil Aviation Administration, said that the Civil Aviation Administration mainly adopted four major measures to improve China's international air cargo capacity.
One is to vigorously increase the supply of air cargo capacity, move out many large airports during peak hours for all cargo aircraft, open up "green passages", encourage Chinese and foreign airlines to implement cargo overtime charter flights, and use idle passenger aircraft to perform cargo flights. The second is to encourage airline companies to actively meet the needs of foreign trade, and arrange cargo overtime charters in a timely manner. The third is to continue to reduce aviation logistics costs and support the development of the aviation logistics industry. Fourth, for the transportation needs of great strategic significance, the Civil Aviation Administration promptly initiated major transportation tasks, and focused on preventing supply chain "broken chain" risks.
The second is cost advantage. The operating cost of cargo planes modified by passenger airlines is relatively low, and the prices of transported goods are also very competitive. In addition, taking Shandong Airlines as an example, the cargo plane of this modification is a temporary reversible modification, so the aircraft structure has not been cut, and no special cargo door has been installed. Products and other goods are mainly based on their own advantages and clear division of labor.
Freight market has become a hot spot
On March 29, the State Council's joint defense and joint control mechanism held a press conference on improving international air cargo capacity and stabilizing the supply chain. Ren Hong, a first-level inspector of the National Development and Reform Commission's Infrastructure Development Division, said that China's all-cargo aircraft development is at an early stage. The National Development and Reform Commission actively encourages and supports China's aviation logistics companies to develop air cargo. Jin Jinghua, director of the Department of Policies and Regulations of the State Post Bureau, said that in 2019, China's export mail and express mail will be mainly transported by air. The State Post Bureau will further accelerate the development of express air networks, improve international air cargo capacity, and promote the construction of international logistics supply chain systems.
"In terms of quantity, China currently has only 173 all-cargo planes, accounting for 4.5% of the civil aviation transport fleet." Pan Xiaofeng, deputy general manager of the Shandong Airlines Cargo Department, said. Data show that in 2019, 60% of China's import and export of air transport cargo will be completed by passenger aircraft.
During the epidemic prevention and control period, many passenger flights were suspended, and the demand for various materials was more vigorous, resulting in tight freight capacity. According to the statistics of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China, the current cargo flight volume has risen from before the epidemic. In March 2020, the cargo volume of all cargo aircraft increased against the trend, with a total of 253,000 tons, an increase of 28.4% over the same period last year. From April 6 to 12, Chinese and foreign airlines had a total of 4445 advance flight plans for international cargo flights, which had significantly exceeded the average weekly schedule of 1014 before the outbreak, an increase of 338%.
Originally, airlines mainly focused on passenger transportation, and civil aviation cargo can only be regarded as "icing on the cake." Many people did not expect that after the epidemic, civil aviation cargo seemed to give airlines a shot of stimulant, and now civil aviation cargo has become a "life-saving medicine" for the competition.
"On the one hand, we are facing huge operating pressure, and on the other hand, we want to form a stable freight supply chain through 'customer-to-goods', so that 'customer-to-goods' can truly become productive. These three aircraft may be refitted in the future For passenger aircraft, it may also continue to be used as a normal cargo aircraft according to the freight market. "Pan Xiaofeng told reporters that in the future, Shandong Airlines will consider the next direction of the modified three aircraft according to market changes.