Air Canada CEO says carrier will continue to diversify
By TOM PETERS
May 31, 2010
New routes, especially to Europe, have opened the door for Halifax to expand its air cargo business into new markets, says Air Canada’s president and CEO.
“We see opportunities where we have cargo that originates here … largely lobster, seafood, etc., that could connect in a much more efficient fashion through some of our new network,” Calin Rovinescu said in an interview. “We have announced all of these new routes, to Europe especially, and I think there could be some interesting opportunities if we can get the network to be consistent to have cargo that originates here and connects through Montreal or Toronto to these new destinations.”
In 2009, Air Canada moved approximately 5.3 million kilograms of cargo through Halifax Stanfield International Airport. The majority of the cargo was lobster and other seafood, including tuna.
“This business has been growing since the early 1960s when fishermen would pull up in their pickups and hand us cardboard boxes of lobster,” Mr. Rovinescu said in a speech to the Halifax Chamber of Commerce.
The Air Canada CEO said the carrier intends to “continue expanding and diversifying, especially with the so-called ‘hard cargo’ such as parts for the oil and gas industry.”
The opportunities to expand exist with the new routes announced since last year to destinations such as Geneva, Rome, Brussels, Athens and Barcelona.
Brussels was noted as a point of particular interest because Brussels Airlines has become a member of the Star Alliance of which Air Canada was a founding member. Providing another European gateway, Brussels Airlines has an extensive network into Africa that is available to Air Canada customers through the alliance.
On the issue of ‘hard cargo,’ Mr. Rovinescu said in the interview that “in terms of machinery, some of the aircraft we have have tremendous belly capacity and we are going to try to exploit that. You have an international flight from here that goes to London, and London does have oil services and so on, so there are opportunities to better exploit the belly space of those airplanes.”
In 2009, Halifax Stanfield handled 26,910 tonnes of cargo, down 3.7 per cent from the previous year.
In June, the Halifax International Airport Authority, along with some private partners, will officially open a new 3,600-square-metre, multi-tenant air cargo hangar. The facility features 720 square metres of temperature-controlled cargo space.