Announcing the plans at the IATA World Cargo Symposium in London yesterday (Tuesday 27 September), Jettainer’s goal is to establish its own regional teams in Asia.
Airlines in Asia Pacific are growing with existing airlines expanding their businesses to include widebody aircraft or freighters, and new airlines have been founded.
ULD operations have generally been managed in-house, so the region offers potential for Jettainer to provide ULD management solutions.
Thomas Sonntag, Managing Director of Jettainer, says that the company manages a fleet of more than 100,000 ULDs, which could double due to growth in the Asia Pacific region.
He says, “Airlines have recognised the value of ULDs and the need to manage them efficiently: The time is right for ULD outsourcing. We manage ULD fleets with only 80% of the units previously required. This potential ULD saving of 20% can either be used for growth, to offset shortages – or contributes to simply save cost.”
In Asia, Jettainer manages pallets and containers for T’Way, VietJet and Cebu Pacific, with several more airlines in the pipeline.
Sales activities in the region are coordinated from Singapore by Edward Neo, General Manager Sales APAC, and Jettainer’s leasing service, lease&fly is managed out of Hong Kong by Stella Wang.
Sonntag says, “Being close to our customers is enormously important to us. Our customers benefit from what I would call ‘regionally relevant ULD expertise’: understanding networks, geography and culture and transferring this into perfected ULD management. It brings us into the position to really understand our customers’ requirements.”