Teleport chief executive officer Pete Chareonwongsak
KUALA LUMPUR: The resumption of AirAsia’s flights into China will mark the return of belly cargo space in China for Teleport, the logistics venture of Capital A Bhd
(formerly AirAsia Group).
With AirAsia being the largest foreign carrier operating in China by capacity today, Teleport said in a statement that this will bring with it one of the largest cargo networks between China and Asean, with network reach connecting beyond into the wider Asia Pacific region – China, Australia/NZ, India, Japan and Korea.
In the statement, Teleport chief executive officer Pete Chareonwongsak said he is excited with China’s reopening.
“We can look forward to supporting growth in trade and cross-border e-commerce movement regionally.
“The full recovery of AirAsia’s fleet in China will realise Teleport’s extensive network advantage for the first time since the pandemic.”
Chareonwongsak said the goal is to “teleport it” across Asean faster and more affordably than anyone else.
“With a team of 700 in Malaysia, China, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Singapore, we are equipped to become the preferred player for the fastest and most efficient air logistics solutions across Asean.
“Today we help our customers move everything from general, large volume cargo such as machinery to small parcels for ecommerce marketplaces.”
He added that China’s reopening is important in helping the group to achieve its ambition towards Asean leadership in terms of market share in 2023.
Teleport was established in 2018 by consolidating belly capacity of all AirAsia airlines under a single comprehensive network.
Teleport said it is expecting the arrival of the first of its three A321 Freighters in 2023 to strengthen its freighter capacity into its own fleet, in addition to the added capacity from third-party airlines.
“A dedicated freighter is also expected to be assigned for the China – Kuala Lumpur sector in 2023.
“This extends Teleport’s ability to carry additional categories of cargo – from specialised cargo, palletised cargo, as well as various dangerous cargo that are restricted on a passenger plane belly.”
A total of 18 cargo routes into China are expected to resume in March, with plans to increase to 40 routes by the third quarter this year from Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.
Flight frequency in these sectors are expected to normalise to pre-pandemic, with over 350 weekly flights by the fourth quarter of 2023.
