Not in cloud cuckoo land
Mohanned Badri, Saudia Cargo’s vice-president for operational performance. The latest figures portend a great future for Saudia Cargo. At Air Cargo Europe, Mohanned Badri, who’s been at home in the airfreight industry for 21 years, told ITJ editor Andreas Haug about the airline’s prospects. The rapid development of the Saudi flag carrier hasn’t gone unnoticed either, with Chinese airports, amongst others, calling the cargo division, which already has one non-Saudi hub in Liège (Belgium).
How did Saudia Cargo perform overall last year, Mr Badri?
Really well, in both financial as well as operational terms. Looking at our on-time performance we were proud to set a corporate record of 92.7% on time. In the preceding years this figure had stood at 90, 87 and 83%. Industry-wide we’re far ahead of the runner-up (at 87%).
In terms of the financial figures, Saudia Cargo performed almost 120% better in 2020 than in 2019. Last year, we reported a figure almost 400% above 2019’s level. It’s a bit more complicated this year, as we had 9% more capacity but 11% less demand in the first quarter. Overall we’re still above 2019’s levels though.
What are your prospects for the rest of the year; and what are they based on?
We rely on a lot of data and indicators, but the last few years have shown us how challenging it is to venture predictions. Things that seemed pretty certain have changed overnight, be it on account of the outbreak of a disease or because of war. The armed conflict in Sudan, an important trading partner of Saudi Arabia, affects us very strongly, for example.
I nevertheless expect rather weak development – unless we enjoy a strong peak season. But it already let us down last year.
How do you achieve growth?
Well, we’re at home in Saudi Arabia, in the middle of the world, geographically speaking. Our kingdom is ambitiously pursuing its ‘Vision 2030’, which includes a strong focus on multimodal logistics. The economy stimulates government efforts; the country also has the largest consumer base in the Middle East. During Hajj you can add another 5 million people –consumers all!
The Middle East was also the only Iata region to grow in the first quarter of this year – only slightly, it’s true, but still.
Saudia Cargo isn’t the only player in the region. What makes the airline better than its competitors?
Our very close relationships with our customers. We call them partners, by the way, which implies a more long-term relationship. In this sense, we just renewed our strategic partnership with Cainiao, the logistics arm of Alibaba, yesterday [see ITJ Daily for 12 May 2023].
“We don’t just move freight, we handle it.”
In addition, we place a lot of emphasis on quality. We don’t just move freight, we handle it. We may not (yet) be as big as other providers, but we have high quality.
Returning to size for a moment – how many aircraft are there in your fleet?
Seven wide-body freighters at the moment, with an eighth coming soon. We hope to double the size of the fleet in the next three to four years. With governmental support we expect to have 34 full-freighters in the fleet by 2030. The goal is to then carry 4.5 million t of airfreight to, from and via Saudi Arabia. That figure stands at approximately 2.7 million t today. I know that this may sound unrealistic, but the developments of the last few years support these ambitions.
Saudia Cargo remains ambitious, despite the outbreak of Covid-19...
Yes – and partially also because of it. The crisis played into the hands of airfreight – abstracting from the sad loss of human life for the moment. It has became aviation’s moneymaker, and many airlines, recognising this, are now still converting passenger units into freighters. So are we. We’re set to convert seven Boeing B777s.
Where will they operate mainly?
We fly to Liège (Belgium) 15 to 20 times a week, Amsterdam five and Frankfurt four times. 55% of our throughput is generated on the Hong Kong–Europe route, from where we also serve the USA. As part of our growth plan, we at Saudia Cargo are ambitious to build an overseas hub.