WHEN TIMES are tough, holidays can have a damaging effect on business operations. Emirates SkyCargo has revealed that in its financial report for last year.
The global economic crisis continued to take its toll through the year, says the report, with a slight upturn in the third quarter. There was a downturn again in the fourth quarter however, compounded by Christian, Muslim and Chinese holidays coinciding.
But Emirates SkyCargo faced up successfully to the economic difficulties, trade imbalances and payload restrictions to close the year with more revenue and tonnage carried than the previous year.
Positive forecast
They contributed 15.5% of total airline revenues and ended the year with profits 3.17% up on the previous year. Tonnage carried increased over the previous year by 7% to a figure of 214,215 tonnes.
But the eastern economic woes continue to affect trading. Ram Menen, senior g.m. Cargo, commented:
In 1997, the east-west trade was almost at parity in terms of volume. It has now dropped to 70% from east to west and 30% from west to east. Fortunately imports into the Middle East remained strong and counter-balanced some of the slackness in traffic elsewhere.
The forecast for the current 1999/2000 financial year is nevertheless positive. Projected growth is 17.7% in anticipation of an improved global economy. The cargo sector of the airline will also gain from increased capacity due to the fleet replacement programme. The current Airbus A310 and A300 fleet is gradually being replaced with Airbus A330-200s, allowing an average of eight tonnes more freight capacity per aircraft.
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