LATAM Group operates for the first time in Qatar

November 30, 2020 will be a date to remember at LATAM Group. For the first time, an aircraft from the Group operated by LATAM Airlines Brazil landed in Doha, Qatar, transporting perishables from LATAM Cargo customers in South America to Asia and returning to Latin America with a load of electronics.

“Landing in Qatar for the first time is the clearest demonstration of our commitment to satisfy the needs of our cargo customers. With the help of our subsidiaries, we managed to successfully coordinate and implement a route permitting to reduce transport time to relevant markets while supporting export and import markets in South America,” said Kamal Hadad, VP Network and Alliances of LATAM Cargo.

The second flight departed on December 07 towards Doha. In total, with these operations LATAM carried over 95 tons of fresh fruit, which connected with our interline partner Qatar Airways to continue their journey to Shanghai. They also facilitated the importation of more than 60 tons of electronics into the Brazilian and Chilean markets, just in time to meet the Christmas season demand.

LATAM Cargo maintained its strategy of using passenger aircraft as all-cargo transport during the pandemic, which proved very helpful to mitigate the belly capacity reduction caused by the global border closure. In particular, on this route a B777-300 took off from Guarulhos airport in Brazil en route to Santiago, Chile, with a technical stop in Recife, Brazil, before continuing its journey to Doha, Qatar. The return flight ended in Guarulhos.

More than 50 people from different departments formed the team responsible for the implementation and logistics of this operation, which totaled 18 hours of flight from its origin in Brazil until its final destination in Doha.

“We are aware this route is temporary and responsive to the high fruit season in Chile and the greater demand for electronics during Christmas time, but we will continue to adapt our operation to better serve our customers and carry South American products to the world,”  Hadad said.

Other measures adopted by LATAM Cargo

During the pandemic, LATAM Cargo Group has introduced a number of changes to its itinerary and operation in an effort to mitigate the negative impact of reduced belly capacity on customers and to permanently assess our operation to satisfy our customers' needs.

Among the measures taken we can highlight the consistent use of passenger aircraft as all-cargo carriers on international and domestic routes, with different types of metal like B777, B787, B767, A320 and A321. In some cases we have also utilized seat containers to increase cargo capacity on our passenger aircraft. With this strategy, LATAM Cargo Airlines has expanded the capacity of its cargo-only fleet of eleven B767F.

With regard to our routes and frequencies, we have taken steps to secure our service to key markets. For example, the offer between Santiago (Chile) and Miami (USA) has grown 5 fold, from 6 weekly frequencies to 31, thus providing a robust solution to the exporters of salmon, one of Chile's premier industries. We also increased our frequencies between Bogota and Miami by 28%, from 14 to 18 frequencies per week, which, together with our 5 flights from Medellin, total 22 frequencies between Colombia and the United States to support flower exporters.

Connectivity also increased between Miami and South America and between Europe and South America. Finally, during this period the Group has opened direct routes to benefit different industrial sectors in the countries where it operates, like the routes between North America and Brazil or the new cargo destinations of Los Angeles and Mexico.