Passenger-to-cargo flights become "global cargo-carrying" main cargoes mainly based on epidemic prevention materials

　　"Customer to cargo" flights become the main force of "global cargo"

　　Capital Airport Ground Service Company's single-ticket cargo volume and single-day maximum receipt volume hit a two-year high; during the epidemic, the goods were mainly epidemic prevention materials

On May 8, the Capital Airport ground service company cargo warehouse, the staff sorted the goods in the warehouse, most of which were epidemic prevention materials waiting to leave the port. Beijing News reporter Hou Shaoqing photo

　　The epidemic situation in foreign countries is grim. Airlines have thrown out "passenger-to-cargo" flights, with all-cargo planes, charter flights and other flights to achieve "global cargo delivery". Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other cities have ushered in a peak in air transportation. The data shows that the single ticket cargo volume and the highest daily receipt volume of the ground service company of the Capital Airport hit a new high within two years.

　　The Beijing News recently, the reporter visited Beijing Capital International Airport and learned from China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Hebei Airport Group that currently the cargo carried by international cargo outbound flights are mainly masks, medicines, protective clothing and other anti-epidemic materials. The proportion of the transportation accounted for about 70% of the ground service company's freight volume. With the gradual advancement of the domestic resumption of production and production, the transportation volume of precision instruments, clothing, electronic products, etc. that are shipped more on weekdays has gradually increased.

　　Capital Airport's outbound cargo warehouse almost burst

　　The Capital Airport Ground Service Company has been in a high-intensity working state since the outbreak. When the domestic epidemic was the worst, medical materials such as masks and protective clothing from overseas continued to fly from abroad to Beijing, and the company's international warehouse was often piled up with goods. Today, the domestic epidemic situation is improving, but the international epidemic situation is severe, and China's medical supplies are transported from here to the world.

　　The Capital Airport ground service company stores the international outbound cargo storage area. All the goods are on the shelves and the ground. Forklifts shuttle back and forth in the stacking channel to transport the goods to different work areas in an orderly manner. In the warehouse, the staff packed the cargo boxes neatly together and prepared to be delivered to the cargo hold of the aircraft.

　　At present, there are no more locations in the company's international warehouse for storing outgoing goods, and the warehouse is almost burst. Li Bin, Secretary of the Party General Branch of the Cargo Department of the Capital Airport Ground Service Company, said, "One of the main reasons for the surge in the amount of goods in the warehouse is that the space of the airline is already full, and the goods that cannot be boarded temporarily are placed here."

　　Air cargo surge in some cities

　　Statistics from Capital Airport ’s ground service company show that, driven by factors such as all-cargo planes, “passenger-to-cargo” planes, and normal passenger plane go-arounds, the ground service company ’s total daily international receipts exceeded 700 tons for the first time this year, reaching 758 tons. Strong growth.

　　The number of inbound and outbound cargo planes at Shanghai Pudong Airport has grown strongly. According to media reports, at the beginning of April, the number of entry and exit cargo planes at Pudong International Airport skyrocketed, averaging more than 200 sorties per day, doubling from the previous month and up 140% year-on-year. In March, the number of entry and exit cargo planes at Pudong International Airport reached 3,690, with the daily average breaking 100.

　　The same scene also appeared in Guangzhou Baiyun Airport. According to the relevant person in charge of China Southern Airlines, the international outbound cargo volume ushered in the explosive growth since the epidemic. From May 1 to 5, the international outbound cargo volume was 3462.8 tons, an increase of 11.6% year-on-year. Among them, May 5 ushered in a single sunrise port cargo The highest volume, with 802.6 tons of outbound cargo, a year-on-year increase of 72%.

　　At the same time as the rapid development of international cargo aviation, on May 8, Hebei Airport Group opened the regular all-cargo aircraft route from Shijiazhuang to Frankfurt for the first time. This route is the second scheduled international cargo route opened at Shijiazhuang Airport this year after the Shijiazhuang-Kyrgyzstan Bishkek route.

　　-Follow up

　　Airlines make efforts to "pass passengers into goods" to grab the international freight market

　　With the rapid increase in international air freight traffic, China's all-cargo freight capacity still has a gap compared with European and American countries. How to make up for this shortcoming?

　　On March 24, the State Council convened an executive meeting to deploy to further enhance China's international air cargo capacity and strive to stabilize the supply chain. On April 3, the Civil Aviation Administration issued the "Notice on the Establishment and Approval of" Green Channels "for International Air Cargo during Epidemic Prevention and Control". The notice makes temporary adjustments to the procedures for the management of international cargo flight plans, and promotes smooth and efficient approval of international cargo flight plans.

　　Under this background, airlines have used the "passenger to cargo" approach to the international cargo market.

　　Ge Kai, general manager of Beijing Sales Department of China Cargo Airlines, a subsidiary of China Eastern Airlines, introduced that since late March, China Eastern Airlines ’unconventional passenger flights have guaranteed more than 600 types of charter flights. In China Eastern ’s international capacity, in addition to the all-cargo aircraft, there are already six Airbus A330 aircrafts that have been modified and operated by removing the passenger seats. The A330 aircraft with increased cargo space has become China's largest non-conventional wide-body fleet of civil airlines. The number of all-cargo planes and unconventional passenger plane flights and other international cargo flights put on the market by China Eastern Logistics has reached more than 240 weekly flights, almost double the number of flights in the same period last year.

　　According to the relevant person in charge of China Southern Airlines, the passenger-to-cargo flights of China Southern Airlines are mainly wide-body passenger aircraft, and two cabins of Airbus A330 have completed special cabin transformation. From May 1st to 5th, passenger-to-cargo flights received a total of more than 1100 tons of cargo; on May 1st, passenger-to-cargo flights transported cargo volumes of more than 260 tons, creating a new high of "customer-to-cargo" cargo volume in a single day.

　　-Questioning

　　How to change passenger plane into cargo plane to ensure flight safety?

　　To change passengers to cargo is not just removing the seat of the passenger plane. It is as simple as putting the cargo in the cargo. Whether it is manned or cargo, aviation safety will always be the first.

　　On April 21, the Civil Aviation Administration issued a notice of "Cargo Cargo Transportation", which clearly stated that the carrier should fully evaluate the cargo before carrying the cargo in the cabin. Especially for the removal of passenger seats in the cabin to load cargo on the floor of the cabin, the industry has not yet collected enough verification data, and there is no authoritative and mature complete solution. Countries have no conclusive approval for this, the carrier Decisions should be made carefully.

　　In this regard, the reporter learned from China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines that in order to ensure the flight safety of passenger-to-cargo flights, airlines have figured out a set of effective methods. On April 1, China Eastern officially established a special group for passenger aircraft to carry out cargo transportation. The purpose of this special group was to make the operation process of unconventional passenger classes smoother and more perfect. The organization of China Eastern Airlines is led by a logistics company. The Commercial Committee of China Eastern Airlines jointly held a special layout meeting for passenger aircraft execution cargo flights, and various departments worked together to create passenger aircraft execution cargo projects.

　　The relevant person in charge of China Southern Airlines said that in order to ensure the smooth transportation of passenger-to-cargo flights, China Southern Freight Logistics Company communicated with the aircraft maintenance, ground service, cabin and other departments in advance to clarify the business connection process. On May 6th, China Southern Airlines' Geoservices Department issued to various molecular companies and sales departments the "Prompt on Load-Balance Operation for Passenger-to-Cargo Reform", focusing on prompting the risks and precautions of load-balancing operation for passenger-to-cargo conversion flights at external stations. The emphasis is on emphasizing the balance between passenger and cargo flights to ensure flight safety.

　　- View

　　Expert: The "window period" of passenger cargo flights is expected to last 2-3 months

　　When will the "passenger to cargo" flights supplement international air capacity continue? Is it necessary for domestic airlines to purchase all cargo aircraft?

　　In this regard, Lin Zhijie, an expert in the field of civil aviation, said that the overall cargo business is currently declining, but all cargo and passenger aircraft cargo growth. According to statistics, the industry's cargo and mail transportation volume in March was 484,000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 23.4%. Among them, the freight volume of all cargo aircraft increased against the trend, and a total of 253,000 tons was completed, an increase of 28.4% from the same period last year.

　　“The freight market is popular because most international freights are important materials for epidemic prevention. Even if the freight is high, the transportation must be completed. Secondly, the belly cabin of the passenger aircraft originally contributed 49% of the international freight volume. Now the international passenger flights are basically gone, and the freight cabin It is about half less than before. As long as the 'five one' policy for international flights is still in place, there will be no abdominal cabin. "

　　He believes that this is actually a "window phenomenon". It is estimated that it will last for 2-3 months. Whether it will continue depends on many reasons, including whether the foreign epidemic can be controlled and whether the production capacity of foreign enterprises can keep up. Can Shanghai and international passenger transportation resume?

　　For the future development of air cargo, Lin Zhijie suggested to accelerate the construction of mixed reform and cargo hub. "At present, the problem cannot be solved by simply buying aircraft and expanding the scale." He believes that the development of air cargo should mainly be innovated in the model. It is necessary to accelerate the transition to the "door-to-door" or "heaven and earth integration" model. "Stop" ability to solve services. At the same time, it is necessary to accelerate the reform of mixed ownership, especially the cargoes such as Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, which can enhance the vitality of enterprises. In addition, we must speed up the construction of freight hubs, such as Hubei Ezhou Airport, to form a hub freight network, "we must first do our own thing, and then go out and seek integration."

　　Beijing News reporter Wu Tingting