Qatar Airways Cargo has begun a direct freighter service to Yangon, Myanmar, in a move that could boost the country’s ready-made-garment exports, particularly to Europe and the US.
The Doha-Yangon-Doha route is served once-a-week with the Qatar Airbus A330 freighter, providing more than 60 tonnes of cargo capacity each way.
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“Since the country’s liberalisation, Myanmar has had the fastest-growing economy in the ASEAN region, and foreign investment in local trade has seen tremendous growth,” says Qatar Airways’ acting chief officer for cargo, Guillaume Halleux. “We are extremely proud to be the first international airline to serve this emerging market with scheduled freighter service as we aspire to become the premier air cargo service provider in the region.”
Myanmar’s air freight exports and imports have soared 87% and 58%, respectively, in metric tonnes since 2014. Qatar Airways Cargo currently offers belly capacity on the airline’s daily passenger flights to Yangon. The addition of dedicated freighter service will provide additional capacity to support Myanmar’s thriving garment exports, as well as other major commodities.
Ready-made garments are the chief exports destined mainly for Europe and the US via a stopover at the cargo carrier’s Doha hub. The European Union (EU) is currently Myanmar’s third largest export market for garments. In 2016, Myanmar exported some US$2.15bn worth of garments to the world across HS61 (knitted) and HS62 (woven) product categories in 2016, of which $961m – 45% – went to the EU, according to the UN International Trade Statistics Database.
It is the carrier’s eighth freight destination for 2017 and is in line with the firm’s strategic expansion to its network and fleet. The cargo firm recently launched freighter service to Pittsburgh, becoming the first international airline to provide dedicated freighter service to the city.
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