Air carriers deny charges of dumping regulars to serve e-gadget rush

HONG KONG's Cathay Pacific has cancelled 13 flights to Frankfurt, London, Paris, Malpensa, Manchester and Amsterdam while Cargolux Italia cancelled four in the last two to three weeks, arousing suspicions from regular customers that they were being dumped to serve of high-paying, high-tech shippers demanding mass delivery of new e-gadgets, reports London's Loadstar.

"The implication is that Cathay has just cancelled freighters to the general market and held it all for the electronics boys, who probably paid top dollar," said one European forwarder, according to the report, which was also re-printed in the UK's Transport Intelligence.

Apple is expected to launch its iPhone 5 on September 12, while Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 2 on August 29, with the release date set for October.

Cathay denied the charge. "We have cancelled a significant number of flights between Hong Kong and Europe," said Cathay cargo chief Nick Rhodes. "The reason is not because of high-tech volumes - quite the reverse - we are cancelling flights because we simply don't have enough cargo to cover the direct operating costs."

Mr Rhodes said Cathay will reduce capacity in the so-called forthcoming peak between September and November. The carrier had planned to operate 40 flights per week between Hong Kong and North America, and 28 freighters a week to Europe, but it has cut this to 32 and 20 respectively, adding that capacity would be available for charters.

Cathay's total freighter capacity is down some 15 per cent this year - but load factors out of Hong Kong have remained at 90 per cent while inbound capacity comes in between 70 and 80 per cent.

Carriers also dismissed claims that high-tech shippers were paying more, complaining that they pressing for lower rates with shipments flying at discounted rates, said unindentified sources.

"All shippers, including the high-tech ones, are putting pressure on the forwarders for lower rates, who in turn have to put the squeeze on airlines," Mr Rhodes confirmed.

Despite reports that carriers have been allowing forwarders to break their commitments without penalty, one forwarder said: "Most airlines implement dead freight now."