Australia's Tasman Cargo Airlines debuts Asian ops

Tasman Cargo Airlines (HJ, Sydney Kingsford Smith), which operates cargo services on behalf of DHL Express, has entered the Australia-Asia market following the start of regular flights to Singapore Changi.

The airline operates 5x weekly roundtrips between Melbourne Tullamarine, Darwin, and Singapore using a B767-300F, the Changi Airport Group (CAG) announced in a statement.

Tasman Cargo Airlines had, until now, only plied flights between Sydney Kingsford Smith, Auckland International, and Brisbane International.

The new connection follows increasing cross-border e-commerce cargo flows across DHL’s global and Southwest Pacific network through its South Asia hub at the Changi Airfreight Centre.

Commented Sean Wall, Executive Vice-President, Network Operations & Aviation, DHL Express Asia Pacific: “Australia is growing as an important market for DHL as local businesses continue to adapt, innovate, and adopt e-commerce practices for their business needs.” Online shopping in Australia hit an all-time high in 2020, with purchases growing 57% year on year. Cross-border e-commerce was significant for the Australian market, representing about 60% of Australian online consumers’ purchases.

The company said its South Asia hub in Singapore served as an important logistics hub and conduit for its Southwest Pacific customers looking to expand their reach to the rest of Asia Pacific, the United States, and Europe. DHL’s airline partners now mount more than 100 weekly flights through Changi Airport.

This new development also follows DHL’s recent intercontinental network expansion with AeroLogic, AirBridgeCargo, and Kalitta Air.

In 2020, Australia was Changi Airport’s fourth largest air cargo market, with airfreight throughput reaching over 134,000 tonnes for the year. In addition to Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi) and Kalitta Air’s scheduled freighter services to Australia, several airlines including Qantas, Scoot, and SriLankan Airlines have also operated cargo-only passenger aircraft flights between Singapore and Australia.

For the first four months of 2021, Changi Airport handled 582,000 tonnes of airfreight throughput. More than 940 weekly cargo flights currently connect Singapore to over 80 cities, the airport said.