Somehow, Hiran Perera has kept his youthful good looks and easygoing manner, even managing to appear amused and not overwhelmed at the increased attention he has received lately as Emirates SkyCargo Vice President Cargo, Freighters.
     Maybe it’s the experience gained after nearly 20 years aboard Emirates SkyCargo.
     Or perhaps it’s something in the water at home in his native Sri Lanka.
     Whatever it is, as a key executive who has been with Emirates SkyCargo since it began its meteoric rise into the top 20 of world air cargo carriers (EK is now ranked in the top three), Hiran combines textbook knowledge and on-the-job experience with an even-handed, soft spoken style—no matter what whirlwind is sweeping through air cargo at the moment.


     But when it comes to operating freighters, it is all good to Hiran.
     "Freighter operations growing the business of SkyCargo globally are a valued and increasingly important part of our cargo operation.
     “Everyone here from top to bottom is a team player, determined to get the job done.
     “The most important thing right now is the high cost of fuel and what it may do to the overall economy and the resultant impact it will have on airfreight.
     “While one cannot do much about the fuel prices, I believe trying to understand the impact is important to formalize short- and medium-term strategies to get through the road bumps (or air pockets).
     “Of course, one must not lose sight of long-term objectives either.
     “But in the meantime, we remain quite busy utilizing our entire fleet to our global destinations.
     “Today people ask us: ‘don’t you need a small capacity aircraft?’
     “What I say is that you can easily combine two small markets and service both with a B777F and have better cost efficiencies than operating a sub-fleet.”


     Currently Emirates operates all its passenger and freighter schedules from DXB, although Hiran is readying to “migrate our freighter operations to the new airport DWC this May.”
     As to the challenge of operating the cargo business at two gateways, Hiran says simply:
     “We have always been up to managing and benefitting from change, and all of us remain confident we can make DWC not only work, but at the end of the day be instrumental in developing SkyCargo further.
     “We carry about 30 percent of total cargo volume aboard our freighters.
     But there is a certain interconnectivity between the freighters and the passenger flights belly lift.
     “Even though we will move all-cargo to DWC, we will operate trucks that will be given high-speed access here at DXB to connect with our belly fleet.
     “In any case, today our freighters are parked on the north side of DXB and to connect cargo across this busy airport can take as much if not more time than moving between DXB and DWC.
     “It is all about how we choreograph our airplanes and truck movements,” Hiran said.

     We asked Hiran about the A380 and its role in air cargo—would it ever be a freight-carrying airplane?
     “It remains to be seen whether the Airbus can offer service as a freighter, because that variant was scrapped.
     Now things have changed; the A380 cargo offering will have to be completely different, because today the B777 does the job.
     “A380 is a great airplane.
     “The cargo capability of the airplane is much better than we expected it to be.
     “We did a lot at the time with Airbus in order to optimize the underbelly cargo capacity, and that’s paid off.
     “We had to push them to make some design changes; for example, we specified the ability to carry pallets in what we call the tunnel area, the area in between the gear.
     “The original specs only allowed for containers, and that volume is very beneficial when you have a full passenger load; when these are operating on roads like Heathrow, Paris, or Incheon, that freight capability is important.
     “With that volume, we are now able to achieve 13-15 tons and have even gone up to 18 tons depending on the density of the freight.”
     In terms of the evolutionary cycle of developing more capacity as new airplanes come online, Hiran Perera admits that he was involved in the early stages of the A380 development.
     “We worked as a team quite a bit in order to get that belly capacity.
     “We are happy to see that it’s actually benefitting us.
     “As we go along, we’ll do that with new aircraft that come in as well, working with manufacturers to ensure that belly capacity.
     “For an airline like us, the freight in the belly is extremely important—you cannot understate the importance of it.”

     Looking ahead Hiran pointed out everyone would be happier if the market were better:
     “That is no secret,” Hiran said.
     While the carrier continues to expand itself in some respects out of a downturn, posting continuously positive figures “having opened up several new markets,” Emirates most recently is adhering to continuing its program of “creating new opportunities with our services that in most cases discover and open up new business links.”
     “For example, before we opened up Brazil non-stops from Dubai, you would be hard pressed to find goods from South America in the Middle East.
     “Now our part of the world has a constant stream of goods from Brazil and also has expanded that traffic to include perishables from Chile.
     “One of our newer destinations, Algiers has brought many interesting commodities to this part of the world, including truffles.
     “So we see our services opening more than just city pair connections; in fact, we are an engine for developing new markets and trade possibilities, including the expansion beyond Dubai via our vast network worldwide.


     “What is unique about the Emirates organization is that it is a team, and we have a great team with great leadership, and that has set us apart from everyone else.
     “I don’t think you can replicate what we do here.
     “It’s the coming together of these different individuals as a team, and it has evolved over the last quarter century plus years into something that is extremely special.
      “I want to address an aspect of our business that may get less attention—air charters.
     “As mentioned earlier our charter business has been growing in importance.
     “Emirates developed the charter business over the years. It doesn’t run separately; it runs within the freighter unit.
     “We’ve found that it has proven to be absolutely invaluable to do that—it brings in a different stream and you can manage the cyclical nature of our business and take advantage of it.
     “Our unique global position helps as well, as we can take advantage of opportunities around us,” Hiran Perera said.
Geoffrey/Flossie

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     “Good question, but our answer may be even better!
     “Saudia Cargo customers will benefit as the airline further grows our passenger network with new B777-300 aircraft and opens new routes to Los Angeles and Manchester.
     “In 2014 Saudia Cargo will operate the largest freighter fleet of 15 aircraft in the Middle East, consisting of B747-8, B747-400, and MD11s.
     “We continue to offer our unique charter business solutions in the Chinese market.
     “We will deliver more solutions to our clients such as OK-2-KSA to assist in easily doing business in our home country of Saudi Arabia.
     “SV Cargo launches a new product for pharmaceuticals during 2014.
     “We will be ready for e-AWB, and aim to implement e-Freight in Saudi Arabia.
     “And we will have no hiccups during the traditional peak in the Ramadan period, as we proved in 2013.”

Jim Bellinder
Vice President Sales
United Cargo

     “United Cargo is a company to watch in 2014 because we’ve worked through the transformation of the past few years and we’re now executing a stable, consistent process and technology.
     “We definitely embrace United’s regeneration of our classic slogan ‘the friendly skies,’ but ‘shipper friendly’ means much more than a smile and a pleasant manner.
     “It means we’re looking at our business relationships in a completely new way – replacing the old ‘customer’ model with a spirit of collaboration and innovation.
     “We’d like both current and potential new partners to know we’re enthusiastic about doing ‘whatever it takes’ to earn their business.”

     “Although the airfreight industry has seen better times, we will stick to our Lufthansa Cargo2020 strategy.
     “Large investments are being made to digitize our processes (e.g. eAWB, ebooking) and modernize our IT, sales channels, and our fleet (two further Boeing 777 freighters to come).
     “Furthermore we are looking into cooperating with new partners.
     “Last, but not least, we have a strong focus on our products and services. “2014 is an exciting year to see the first results of many of these projects.
     “Aside from our strategic projects, we will again demonstrate fast and market-orientated network adjustments related to market demand to ensure sustainable freighter profitability even in difficult market environments.“

     “Right now as 2014 begins, we also launch a big year for the new American Airlines Cargo.
     “In December we began our journey to become the world’s largest airline, allowing us to offer our customers an even larger global network and even more capacity.
     “And that network will continue to grow this year. In June, we’ll begin new cargo service between Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and Hong Kong (HKG), two important and growing markets for cargo, as well as Shanghai (PVG).
     “Additionally, we continue to look at ways we can support IATA initiatives, including modernizing the business with e-Air Waybill education and implementation.
     “We have an incredible team that is committed to keeping our customers a top priority and delivering the world-class customer service they expect.”

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