Speaking at a recent industry event, Michael Duggan, director of cargo charters at Saudia, said that the trend towards wet-leasing freighter capacity is set to continue as airlines look to develop new markets.
“The cost of running B777s is so high that it’s viable only with an enormous number of operating hours, and the charter market doesn’t work like that,” said Duggan.
Michael Steen, executive vice president and chief commercial officer of Atlas Air Worldwide, said that it is providing lift to DHL, UPS and FedEx when they require capacity. He expects wet leasing to play an important future role in a maturing Chinese market despite China’s tight regulation and “antiquated rules”.
David Kerr, vice president of cargo at Etihad, said the carrier had gone through “several cycles of wet-lease” before acquiring three of its own B747 production freighters, enabling it to grow its network. But ACMI agreements had given Etihad the initial flexibility to develop, he said.