Asia's airline alliances, best known for revolutionising the passenger industry, are now looking at the cargo sector with the emergence of two new groupings dedicated to the field.
Singapore Airlines Cargo (SIA), Lufthansa Cargo and SAS Cargo Group last week christened their joint general and express cargo service WOW, which comes into effect on April 1.
While soft-launching the express component of the service in October under the name New Global Cargo, the group postponed its official launch because of post-September 11 uncertainties.
The alliance - whose strategy is little different from the passenger-oriented Star Alliance, of which the three are also members - aims to pool resources of air cargo carriers through network sharing. It will allow customers of the three carriers, each of which will retain its own general cargo product name, to book services at the reservation centre of one carrier to all destinations within the combined network.
WOW's significance lies in the sheer size of its members. Lufthansa runs the world's biggest air freighter operation, while SIA's cargo division is the third-largest. Within the technology-heavy export economies of northern Europe, SAS is the dominant player.
That network reach will enable it to serve as a one-stop shop for freight forwarders, who will be able to simplify shipping plans across the globe with one itinerary and booking from whichever carrier they book with. Each airline would then benefit from increased sales.
Timothy Ross, an Auckland-based regional aviation analyst with UBS Warburg, said: 'For an outsider, the benefits of an alliance are difficult to evaluate. But [WOW] members would get the same sort of interlining and code-share benefits [that they have been getting from their passenger alliances]. That means more distribution, more feeder traffic and lower costs without having to commit to putting in more aircraft.'