SECONDARY
HUBS
base is at Huntsville airport,
in Alabama. Being based in
the south east of the country
has opened up networks in
South and Central America for
Panalpina and, in 2018, the
airline exceeded 1m tonnes of
cargo shipments for the first
time. “Using a smaller secondary
hub like Huntsville is a big
advantage for Panalpina. It’s
convenient for cargo operations,
as the runways are just minutes
away from our facilities. But
it’s also based on geographical
considerations. We have created
what we call a Speedy Loop for
our B747 freighter network,
linking Mexico, the US and the
UK,” Muecke says.
Mexico has long played an
important role in Panalpina’s
networks. In May 2018
Panalpina added the secondary
hub, Querétaro airport, to
its Mexican operations.
Querétaro is in Mexico’s Bajio
region, with key industries
including automotive and
manufacturing, alongside a
fast-growing aerospace sector.
Panalpina had already been
flying out of the secondary
Mexican hub Guadalajara
airport for two decades. By the
end of 2018, Panalpina had 37
regular flights into Querétaro,
71 into Mexico City and 104
into Guadalajara. There were
also ad hoc charters on top
of those figures. Panalpina
offers transatlantic flights from
Querétaro to both London
Stansted and Luxembourg via
its base in Huntsville.
“Both Querétaro and
Guadalajara help us to
circumvent one of the busiest
airports on the planet in Mexico
City, which is 200 metres above
sea level and often faces flight
restrictions that slow down
cargo shipments. Querétaro is
a good example of how we’re
building up our networks of
secondary hubs. We’ll be able to
Using a smaller secondary hub
like Huntsville is a big advantage for
Panalpina
Markus Muecke, Panalpina
cater for demand for imports to support the growing manufacturing,
automotive, and aerospace industries, as well as export perishables
out of Guadalajara,” adds Muecke.
Similar considerations apply in Brazil, where the biggest cargo
hub is Sao Paulo-Guarulhos airport, which is congested and
frequently faces slot restrictions. Although Brazil has been slower
to create secondary hubs, they are under development. Airlines,
including Panalpina, have begun flying directly to the partially
developed hub airports in the northern regions. The Brazilian
Government wants to open up the market and Muecke thinks it’s
just a matter of time before these smaller destinations become fully
fledged secondary hubs.
Chinese puzzles
The Chinese Government also wants to encourage the growth of
smaller airports by making the processes for Customs easier than
they are currently in Shanghai and Beijing.
“When assessing the viability of operations, carriers always have
to consider the round trip and at crowded airports like Shanghai,
there’s a danger of waiting eight hours before you set off – and then
you might not be granted the slot,” Muecke reveals. “It might be
worthwhile taking the cargo to a secondary airport five hours away
by truck. That’s the sort of calculation that has to be made.”
E-commerce has been an important driver for secondary hubs
and will play a big role in sustaining growth. Alibaba and Amazon
tend to favour secondary hubs as they have the volume for
freighters and promise reliable slot times. The smaller airports also
tend to be able to accommodate fulfilment centres for e-commerce.
One of the most important of Europe’s secondary cargo hubs
is Leipzig/Halle airport, which increased its volume of freight by
7.3% to more than 1.22m tonnes in 2018. Although the station
is definitely in the big
league, it has fewer space
and slot restrictions than the
big four European hubs.
“Leipzig/Halle is a good
alternative to many
cargo-restricted sites. It has
free development space on
site and close by. And 15
European countries can be
reached by truck within
eight hours,” commented an
airport spokesperson.
Leipzig has an unrestricted,
round-the-clock service for
cargo airlines and no night
curfew. DHL has chosen it
as a home base and it’s an
important site for the Russian
Volga-Dnepr group. Flight times
to Leipzig from the growing
markets in Eastern Europe and
Asia are one hour shorter than
from the cargo hubs in the west
of the continent. Overall, about
50 freight airlines regularly use
the airport and operate flights
to more than 200 destinations
every year.
Unlike the major hubs
that are more focused on
passengers, Leipzig is able
to invest to increase cargo
capacity significantly. The
airport authority is spending
about €500m to expand the
apron areas and construct
logistics and office premises
to cater for this increase in
demand. This includes the
expansion of the existing DHL
hub and creating a completely
new cargo city in the north of
the airport with new aprons,
new hangars and office space.
“The intention is to attract
more freight forwarding
companies and e-commerce
consolidators,” said the
spokesman.
Overall, then, given the
constraints increasingly being
felt by the world’s main cargo
hubs, it would seem that the
future for secondary hubs is a
rosy one.
Leipzig Halle airport is one of Europe’s most
important secondary hubs
12 August 2019 www.airlogisticsinternational.com
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