Page 10 - AAA JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2022 Online Magazine

AIR CARGO

Island of “For us 2021 proved a record-setting year.
Even as the impact of COVID-19 was felt all
around the world, China Airlines switched to a
cargo-centric business model that put its fleet
of 21 freighters to full use. Some of the records
set by Cargo in 2021 included making over a
Stability hundred cargo charter flights in one month,

surpassing TWD 15.4 billion (USD555.8 million
) in single-month cargo revenues in December,
exceeding TWD 10 billion in cargo revenues for
five consecutive months, and sweeping past
TWD 100 billion in cargo revenues for the entire
year. So 2021 was in fact the best-ever year
THERE HAS BEEN AN INCREASED DEMAND FOR in Cargo’s 62-year history,” a member of the
PASSENGER-TO-FREIGHTER CONVERSIONS China Airlines Cargo team said. The non-stop
movement of cargo kept the economic lifeblood
of Taiwan and to great extent the world flowing.
Jay Menon

A Good Source of Revenue
As airlines around the world fought to survive during the pandemic, Cargo is a core source of revenue for every pas-
China Airlines’ elite global team of 800 cargo employees showed senger airline, but it has not always accounted
that they were able to aggressively expand the freight network, for a large percentage of airline revenue for
and ring in record cargo revenues for the year 2021. More than a passenger carriers, that are not also operat-
thousand pilots flying around the clock as well as the full support ing freighters. Nonetheless, with most airline
of maintenance, ground crews and other units saw China Airlines’ operating margins in the single digits prior to
Cargo business surge to new heights during the COVID-19 pan- the COVID-19 crisis, cargo revenue has meant
demic. the difference between profit and loss on most

10 January/February 2022 WWW .GBP .COM.SG/ AAA