Qantas announces new Sydney–Shanghai freighter service

A NEW freighter service between Australia and China has been announced by Qantas, starting on Thursday next week (26 June). 

Qantas is to provide regular, direct scheduled services between Sydney and Shanghai using its Airbus A332P2F aeroplanes on a twice-weekly basis. 

This follows an extra weekly service from Bangkok via Shanghai to the US starting late May. 

“Global freight demand to and from Asia continues to grow and we're launching this additional capacity to support our customers’ fast-moving critical cargo and ecommerce shipments from Bangkok and Shanghai,” said Igor Kwiatkowski, Qantas Freight executive manager. 

Mr Kwiatkowski said the new Shanghai services meant Qantas Freight would offer more direct freighter services between Australia and China than ever, making it easier and more flexible for customers to book capacity. 

“The Shanghai schedule is timed to allow more seamless connections from ports across Australia, providing more opportunities for fantastic Australian producers across the country to uplift their goods onto our international freighter services,” he said. 

Qantas Freight is also talking up opportunities to expand its presence to new digital marketplaces to meet the evolving demands of the air cargo industry. 

As well as enhancing its own international online booking engine, Qantas Freight is said to be expanding its presence on neutral air cargo marketplaces to help customers book Qantas Freight cargo space. 

Freight forwarders can now access Qantas and Jetstar capacity to Australia from the US, UK and South Africa on CargoAi’s ecosystem. 

“We’re excited to partner with CargoAi to give our customers instant access to many of our international passenger and freighter services into Australia and real-time visibility of our schedules, capacity and rates for a more streamlined booking experience,” Mr Kwiatkowski said.