Mar 2022
By Ng Hui Hui
Changi Airport Group (CAG) held its 13th edition of Let’s Talk Cargo (LTC) on 10 March 2022 at Jewel Changi Airport. This year's LTC event, held in hybrid mode with both physical and online participation, attracted more than 300 attendees from airline partners, freight forwarders, logistics companies, local ground handlers, government agencies and cargo associations. It featured a line-up of local and overseas speakers including representatives from Seabury Cargo, The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA), Shopee, and CAG. Through a series of talks, the speakers shared about the global and local air cargo industry landscape and developments.
In conjunction with LTC, CAG organised the second edition of Changi Cargo Partners Appreciation Ceremony to acknowledge and appreciate top airline partners for their contributions in 2021 towards the restoration of Changi’s air cargo network.
Building resilience and long-term competitive advantages for the Changi air cargo hub
Ching Kiat speaking to airline partners at the conference
Mr Lim Ching Kiat, Managing Director, Air Hub Development in CAG, shared that in 2021, the air cargo industry continued to face air cargo capacity shortage and supply chain disruptions due to the slow recovery of international passenger flights amid the Covid-19 pandemic. There was also global widespread labour shortage across the industry of warehouse workers and truck drivers. These posed significant challenges to the air cargo community at Changi. Restoring our air cargo connectivity and building long-term sustainable competitive advantages were paramount to the Changi air cargo hub.
CAG was hence relentless in maintaining its extensive cargo network. For the past year, CAG continued to work closely with our airline partners to expand their freighter operations and extend passenger freighter flights. As a result, Changi Airport welcomed two new freighter operators - SpiceJet from India and Tasman Cargo Airlines from Tasmania in the year.
Global express integrators DHL Express and FedEx Express deepened and widened their intercontinental network at Changi. In Northern Summer 2021, DHL Express bolstered its flight network with over 40 weekly incremental flights to service growing express demand between Asia Pacific and USA, as well as Europe via South Asia. DHL Express had also made strong contributions towards the Covid-19 vaccines delivery to Singapore and via Singapore into the region.
The above efforts saw Changi’s total weekly cargo flights in December 2021 more than doubling against 2019 levels. During the same period, weekly freighter flights increased by 83%. As a result, Changi’s total air cargo throughput recorded an improvement of 1.95 million tonnes in 2021, which was 97% of 2019’s air cargo throughput and 26% higher than 2020’s. Air trades, composing of air imports and exports, exceeded 2019 levels by about 9%.
The event ended with a prize presentation to appreciate top airline partners for their contributions in 2021, towards the restoration of Changi’s air cargo network.
Group photo of winning airline partners listed below
Top 5 Cargo Airlines (by Absolute Freighter Flight Movement Growth)
Aerologic, FedEx Express, Korean Air, My Indo Airlines, My Jet Xpress Airlines,
Asia Cargo Airlines (Special Commendation)
Top 5 Passenger Airlines/Airlines Groups (by Absolute Passenger-Freighter Flight Movement)
Air China, China Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Korean Air, Singapore Airlines Group
Special Commendation
DHL Express
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