Capacity glut: Air Canada terminates freighter operations to China

Toronto: Air Canada will terminate its freighter operations to China at the end of this month, and return a leased MD-11 freighter to ACMI provider, World Airways. The Canadian carrier was running an all-cargo service between Shanghai and Toronto.

According to Claude Morin, president, Air Canada Cargo, capacity glut and declining yields forced the decision, and pointed to the multitude of trans-Pacific freighter flights from Shanghai that have been launched over the past year.

Over the past year, US carriers such as UPS and Polar have boosted their Shanghai operations. Chinese carriers, Shanghai Airlines and Yangtze River Express, too, have commenced US flights, and Jade Air Cargo was poised to start a B747-400ERF operation from its hub at Shenzhen via Shanghai to Vancouver and Houston this month.

Industry analysts acknowledge that yields in the trans-Pacific market have suffered as capacity has increased. The market is hurting more with new entrants adding capacity to an already over-served market.

Air Canada has been gradually scaling back its China freighter operation. Eight months back it handed one of the two MD-11 freighters it was operating on the route, back to the leasing company and reduced the frequency of it flights to Shanghai's Pudong airport from five to three flights a week.

Air Canada still has daily passenger flights to-and-from Pudong, which still deliver some 90 tonnes of cargo a week to the market.