Carrier case study: IAG Cargo

IAG Cargo offers capacity on over 40 flights a week to and from Africa, flying directly to Accra, Lagos, Abuja, Cairo, Nairobi, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Mauritius from London-Heathrow and Dakar from Madrid, facilitating the trade of fresh produce exports and electronics and automotive parts into the region, says regional commercial manager for Europe and Africa, Freddie Overton.
Adapting since the start of the pandemic has meant incorporating new solutions such as cargo-only flying and a specialist charter service for customers, as well as adapting passenger aircraft into preighters.
“We expanded our operation into Africa with a new route to Dakar from Madrid in October 2021, running five times a week utilising an Iberia Airbus A330 and A350 with an approximate capacity of 20 and 30 tonnes per flight,” Overton notes. “This service responds to the increasing demand of goods such as electronics and pharmaceuticals into west Africa, and perishables such as fresh fish, fruit and flowers out of the region.” And in January, its flights to Cape Town increased to two B777-200 flights per day.
Access to dedicated on-the-ground handling teams “are a vital part of the process” of air cargo playing “a critical role in keeping global supply chains open” and “has allowed IAG Cargo to continue to service the (Africa) region throughout the pandemic”, he notes.