Air New Zealand Cargo is offering importers and exporters
a range of charter options to keep cargo moving to and from
New Zealand during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Air New
Zealand General Manager Cargo Rick Nelson says the airline
has introduced a number of innovative measures to keep Kiwi
businesses connected to the world.
“We’re offering
our cargo customers a range of aircraft charter services
covering every port on the Air New Zealand network
(excluding London). We have also been able to provide
customised options from North American markets through to
Australia.
“With our Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
aircraft for example, we have the ability to uplift 11 cargo
pallets in each direction we fly. Each of these pallets can
take up to 12 cubic metres in volume and up to 4600
kilograms in weight.
“We’ve shared these options
with our global cargo customer base and are getting some
strong interest from customers wanting to ship to and from
Shanghai, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sydney and
Melbourne.
“We’ve also introduced the concept of a
‘Multi Party Charter Agreement’ which has been designed
to help small and medium sized exporters and importers to
ensure they have options available to them to move their
goods in these challenging times. Under this model, our
customers can purchase a single airfreight pallet position
on a charter flight, or by working together with a freight
forwarder, a coalition of exporters and importers can
potentially combine and consolidate their shipments so that
they are able to purchase a single unit on the
aircraft.
“This is undoubtedly an extremely
difficult time for our airline with a significant reduction
in capacity due to reduced travel demand, but we are pleased
to be able to keep New Zealand connected to the world in
this way.”
At the same time, Air New Zealand is
working with the Government to ensure critical cargo
transport lines are
maintained.
