LATAM Cargo serves Brussels

Since 26MAR23, the Latin American carrier operates four weekly transatlantic cargo flights between Miami (MIA) and Brussels (BRU), deploying B767 P2F equipment. Why was Brussels chosen as a destination? CargoForwarder Global (CFG) asked Gudny Genskowsky (GG), Director of Alliances and Network, LATAM Cargo.

GG: We are always hearing the needs of our customers, and Brussels is a very relevant gateway for the European market, so we saw an opportunity to diversify origins and the B767F is an excellent aircraft to do it.
 
CFG: The westbound flight ends in MIA. It can be assumed that many shippers would prefer an onward flight via Sao Paulo to Santiago de Chile for time reasons. Why did LATAM Cargo decide against this routing?

GG: Connecting Brussels with Miami gives our European customers the possibility to connect to all our destinations in South and Central America that are served directly from our gateway in MIA, not only Santiago or Sao Paulo. We are expanding our destination portfolio so that we can cover all our clients' requirements.

CFG: Are your other European destinations, namely Amsterdam (AMS), Frankfurt (FRA), but also Madrid (MAD), affected by the new BRU flight?

GG: By expanding our freighter frequencies out of Europe to Miami, we are using one of our major cargo hubs to connect Europe with our extensive network within Central and South America. With this, we offer the entire solution for more than 20 destinations out of Europe, not only for general cargo, but also a robust and certified specialized service with our pharmaceutical product.
Shorter transit times and great connectivity ensure a remarkable service with our own controlled warehouse in Miami.

CFG: Which GSA markets the capacity of the Brussels flight?

GG: The flight out of Brussels, as with flights operated out of our other gateways, is open to all the European markets, not just the Belgium one – hence no single GSA. The same goes for import. This will mainly be flowers from Ecuador, but not exclusively.
 
CFG: Talking about LATAM Cargo’s intercontinental network: Are there still plans to fly to the Far East, or have you shelved such considerations?

GG: As a company, we are constantly evaluating our network in search of new opportunities that can meet our customers' needs. When we developed our growth plan, we defined that we wanted to have a homogeneous fleet of B767Fs, as it is the perfect aircraft to operate in the region. The option of operating in Asia is something we have always considered. However, for the moment, we do not see it as a necessity since we have several interline agreements that allow us to cover that continent.
 
CFG: Delta Air Lines (20%) and Qatar Airways (10%) are LATAM stakeholders. Little is heard about cargo cooperations with Delta and/or Qatar. Please shed some light on this.

GG: With both stakeholders, we have cargo interline agreements in place under which we have worked together transporting different seasonal (fruit) and regular interline traffic (salmon and e-commerce). We are constantly reviewing how our networks and available capacity can better connect and serve our customers with more options.

CFG: Gudny Genskowsky, thank you for this interview.

Interview: Heiner Siegmund


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