Atlantic Cargo are the fi rst
joint venture providing true
end-to-end compliance and
assurance for customers
moving pharmaceuticals,
medicines and life science
shipments between the US and
the UK,” he concludes. FREIGHTER
FOCUS
a partnership with CarePod, a pet technology start-up that has
developed a new standard of safety and care for pet travel. The
objective of this partnership is the development of a new pet
transportation strategy to create a new range of smart pet travel
products and services, with real-time updates for customers.
Delta has also recruited a staff veterinarian to review policies and
procedures to strengthen its capabilities in this area.
Not surprisingly, e-commerce has been another segment of
interest to Cole and his team. He regards the rapid growth of
this business as a good opportunity for belly carriers with their
networks, frequencies and fast turnarounds, especially with their
narrow-body operations.
Delta’s narrow-body capacity is set to rise, with some 50 B737-
900ERs and 70 A321-200s on order, as well as 100 A321neos,
which will start entering service in 2020. The airline’s wide-body
fl eet is also expanding, with altogether 25 A350s joining the lineup,
of which the fi rst arrived in October 2017.
Future orders
Last October, management deferred the
delivery of ten of the A350s to 2025-26
but simultaneously placed an order for
ten A330-900s. This added to a tally of 25
A330s already on order, which will start
coming on stream this year.
The A350s in service have been placed
mainly on trans-Pacifi c routes. While
the type has less payload capability than
the B777, it has been a welcome boost
for Delta on the cargo side, replacing
the airline’s B747 fl eet. “The A350 is
really performing well for us. It gives us
consistency of payload,” remarks Cole.
Seattle-Osaka) and several
trans-Atlantic sectors.
Further expansion is
coming through closer ties
with Delta’s alliance partners.
Last summer Delta Cargo
strengthened its Asian reach
through a joint venture with
Korea Air Cargo, opening the
door to sharing space on each
other’s passenger aircraft. Their
alignment allows them to
offer their customers access to
over 290 destinations in the
Americas and more than 80 in
Asia.
“We anticipate that Seoul
Incheon will continue to grow
as a major Asia gateway for
Delta and Korean Air,” remarks
Cole.
The pair’s alignment at
the Korean carrier’s hub goes
beyond shared routes. Last
year they co-located in the
airport’s new Terminal 2. “This
means substantially reduced
connecting times for both
passengers and cargo, and oneroof
warehousing is planned
for the airport as well,”
explains Cole.
Delta Cargo’s trans-Pacifi c
partnership move came after
it had strengthened its ties
with Air France-KLM and
Virgin Atlantic across the
Atlantic and AeroMexico for
Latin America. In most cases
airline cargo alliances that
transcend into joint ventures
have concentrated, at least
initially, on the partners’
general products, but Cole is
happy to take this further to
the premium sectors.
“Delta Cargo and Virgin
Delta Air Lines says that its narrow-body as
well as wide-body fl eets are set to grow
Last year Delta launched
Beijing-Detroit, Shanghai-
Detroit and Seoul-Atlanta
routes with A350 aircraft
and boosted capacity on the
Hong Kong-Seattle sector,
with a B777 replacing A330-
200 equipment. Across
the Atlantic, it launched a
number of routes, including
New York-Lagos and fl ights
from Los Angeles to Paris and
Amsterdam. This year will
see the addition of Mumbai
to the network, as well as
two new trans-Pacifi c routes
(Minneapolis-Seoul and
18 February 2019 www.airlogistics
airlogisticsinternational.com
Full visibility of sensitive cargoes has given
Delta extra status amongst its customers
/www.airlogistics
/airlogisticsinternational.com