Qatar Airways Cargo Resumes Passenger Freighter Service to Penang

DOHA, Qatar – Qatar Airways Cargo will recommence belly capacity services to Penang, Malaysia, effective Feb. 2, 2023. Qatar Airways Cargo will operate an A330 passenger freighter to Penang via Qatar Airways’ passenger flights to Phuket, four times a week. This adds more than 70 tonnes of available capacity each week, that will feed into Qatar Airways Cargo’s extensive international network via its state-of-the-art Doha hub.

The service complements the existing seven weekly belly-hold flights to the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, providing customers with over 200 tonnes of cargo capacity from Malaysia.

Guillaume Halleux, chief officer cargo at Qatar Airways Cargo commented: “Qatar Airways Cargo is implementing its meticulous Next Generation approach throughout its network, aiming for optimum resource deployment in alignment with customer requirements.

“Our network planning team saw a perfect opportunity in the passenger A330 flight’s ground-time in Phuket, and have worked hard to establish a well-scheduled, interim passenger-freighter connection to Penang and back to maximize the cargo capacity into and out of Malaysia’s second-busiest cargo airport.

“This Next Generation-style multi-modal strategy sees Qatar Airways’ Doha-Phuket passenger connection becoming a Phuket-Penang-Phuket passenger-freighter for four days of the week, before returning to Doha again as a passenger service with lower deck cargo.”

“The re-launch of our Penang connections in an innovative and unique manner illustrates our ambition and ability, at Qatar Airways Cargo, to provide connectivity to our customers in the best possible way.

With the exception of Mail, the destination is open for all commodity types. Penang is the largest export contributing state within Malaysia, with mostly electronics/electrical equipment, general cargo and vulnerable cargo being sent by air.