Air Canada starts Montreal-Quito cargo flights

[caribb]

https://canadianaviationnews.wordpress.com/2020/07/22/air-canada-started-cargo-flights-from-quito-international-airport/

Air Canada Started Cargo Flights from Quito International Airport

 Canadian Aviation News

1 day ago

Corporación Quiport S.A. Press Release ~ 21 July 2020

The flight arrived yesterday afternoon and left this morning with 50 tons of flowers bound for Montreal.

As part of the 60 years of bilateral relations between Ecuador and Canada, on Monday afternoon a brief act took place that formalized the start of Air Canada cargo operations at the Quito airport, with two weekly flights. The aircraft, an Airbus 330 C of the Canadian airline, departed this morning from the cargo terminal of the Quito airport with 50 tons of flowers for export to Montreal.

In turn, through these cargo flights, medical supplies and electronic items from Canada will arrive in Ecuador, which are the main items of import by air from that country.

The event was attended by Daniel Legarda, Vice Minister of Industries and Production; Tyler Wordsworth, Charge d’Affaires of the Canadian Embassy; Caleb McLean, President of the Canadian Ecuadorian Chamber of Commerce; Patricia Aulestia, representative of Air Canada in Ecuador; Sandro Ruiz, Manager of the Metropolitan Public Airport Services Company; Felipe Ribadeneira, President of the Fedexpor Board; Alejandro Martinez, President of Expoflores; and Alex Moreno, Quiport Manager of Route.

The Vice Minister of Industries and Production, Daniel Legarda, pointed out that the new route “will open important perspectives to continue deepening bilateral relations with Canada, hopefully with the search for a trade agreement or an investment agreement, as well as to resume passenger flights and to further advance on the bilateral relationship with Canada and North America in general”.

The Canadian Embassy in Ecuador has been instrumental in the initiation of air cargo transportation through Air Canada. Tyler Wordsworth, Chargé d’Affaires of the Canadian Embassy explained that “on the sixtieth anniversary of diplomatic relations with Ecuador it is very important to have this Air Canada cargo flight that arrived after a successful season of passenger flights. Now, due to the pandemic, we can only arrive with cargo, but we are very pleased that Air Canada has sent this flight that will result in the strengthening of diplomatic relations between our countries”.

The direct benefit will be for the flower growing sector, since flower cargo represents 92% of total exports by air from Quito. Alejandro Martinez, President of Expoflores, was satisfied with the Air Canada operation. “Without a doubt, the direct flight from Quito to Canada is positive especially related to transport time, we are talking about reducing some 48 to 72 hours, which is positive”. He noted and stressed that “Canada is a highly exclusive market, a niche market for Ecuador… We certainly believe that this is going to help reactivate the Canadian market in an important way ”.

For his part, Andrew O’Brian, President and CEO of Quiport, the company in charge of the administration and operation of the Quito airport, explained that cargo operations during this health emergency have been key to keeping the export sector active and to receive medical supplies. “Air Canada’s decision to operate cargo flights in Quito is vital for the economic recovery and an indicator of the importance of cargo activities at our airport”, he concluded  

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en français https://www.aircanada.com/cargo/fr/news-updates/commercial/20200716.html

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I’m not sure if this will be a permanent cargo route but good news for us and probably a smart move for Air Canada if it can help them offset downturns in passenger volume that may occur in the future. I wonder if it will also lead to them buying dedicated cargo aircraft? They had planned on getting 777F’s back in the day, maybe the pandemic has sparked new interest. 

Edited July 23, 2020 by caribb
Add body of article, added French link (diff source)

[Alexcaban]

On 2020-07-23 at 11:44 AM, caribb said:

 

I’m not sure if this will be a permanent cargo route but good news for us and probably a smart move for Air Canada if it can help them offset downturns in passenger volume that may occur in the future. I wonder if it will also lead to them buying dedicated cargo aircraft? They had planned on getting 777F’s back in the day, maybe the pandemic has sparked new interest. 

Air Canada has already stated that running cargo flight bring very minimal revenue so I doubt AC will spend the money to get dedicated cargo planes or even convert some of their old 767s. 

[ERJ-Boy]

Le 2020-07-25 à 13:45, Alexcaban a dit :

Air Canada has already stated that running cargo flight bring very minimal revenue so I doubt AC will spend the money to get dedicated cargo planes or even convert some of their old 767s. 

Fun fact, in their initial order for Boeing 777s 15 years ago there were 2 freighters. They were cancelled in 2007.