With the arrival of a new cargo company ATC-NL in the Netherlands next to Martinair Cargo, I wonder whether there really is room for 2 Dutch cargo companies at Schiphol. ATC-NL will initially deploy 2 747-400Fs for freight liner services to Hong Kong, US and China. About the same lines that Martinair Cargo also flies on. In 2024 or later, ATC-NL may start flying with 747-8F or 777F. First, the fleet will expand with 2 extra to 4 aircraft.

This can lead to fierce competition for Martinair Cargo on the freight market from Amsterdam. Martinair Cargo now operates with 4 747-400Fs, 3 from KLM Cargo and 1 from Martinair Cargo itself.

As far as I am concerned, passenger transport stopped from 2011 would be good to see again whether it is feasible for Martinair to try again. Perhaps long-haul flights on an all-inclusive basis as was in the past or going on a low-cost carrier for long-haul flights such as Norwegian or Air Asia. Holiday charters that Martinair used to carry out in Europe, Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey is possible, but not so much anymore. Air travel has changed in decades due to the arrival of low-cost airlines such as EasyJet or RyanAir, where tickets are also much cheaper than a charter airline.

A merger with Transavia could work out well for Martinair as well as merge into one company with a different name and a large fleet of aircraft for freight and passenger transport. Then you have a stronger position within the KLM-AF group, which also offers more opportunities to grow into a large European budget / cargo company. Then the merged company would have more flexibility to respond to both freight and passenger traffic situations. A merger company would be very good for KLM and Air France.

Look now what we have is 2 Transavia's, 1 in the Netherlands and 1 in France, which is also an advantage as well as exchanging the planes from each other, the same business philosophy, but the disadvantage is also that French Transavia is very different from the Dutch. The French Transavia is very dependent on powerful French trade unions. That in itself is also difficult to compare between 2 different Transavia's. In itself, Air France-KLM wants French Transavia to grow significantly than Dutch Transavia in size of the aircraft fleet. I think that 1 large Transavia operating in a number of European countries is the best, which is also much cheaper for Air France-KLM than with 2 separate independent Transavia.

In the new situation, Martinair would have to resume passenger activities as a competitor for Eurowings and Level on low-cost flights. The best thing would be that the Boeing 787 or Airbus A350 is most suitable for Martinair to fly from Amsterdam and Paris to distant destinations. Then you also quickly speak of a larger Martinair than the former small Martinair that only operates from the Netherlands. The big question is therefore whether there is enough market for Martinair to re-enter passenger transport.

To be frank Martinair probably doesn’t have much of a future. It’s somewhat surprising that the company is still around to begin with.

Polot wrote:

To be frank Martinair probably doesn’t have much of a future. It’s somewhat surprising that the company is still around to begin with.

I understand what you mean by this. Today's Martinair has little future as an independent society, that is really the fact that we are now dealing with. But a merger with another society will come to go stronger on the market. Especially that I wrote about this in the first message, there is a good chance that Martinair will merge with Transavia within Air France-KLM. You think that Martinair just ceases to exist, that really does not happen, because Martinair has built up a significant role in the aviation world in the past.

Another option could also be for Martinair to be sold to another major cargo airline. For several years, Volga-Dnepr had wanted to take over Martinair in its entirety and refinish all the aircraft in Volga-Dnepr colors. Unfortunately, this deal has been canceled by Air France-KLM.

Martinair was completely dried out by AF-KLM group. Too bad.

leleko747 wrote:

Martinair was completely dried out by AF-KLM group. Too bad.

Yes, that's right, but that had happened among former French board members of AF-KLM, who really wanted Air France cargo to do a large part of the freight market than the Dutch Martinair. So they have reduced Martinair a lot and only serves a few freight lines from Amsterdam.

All depends if AIr France - KLM wants to stay in the Cargo business. If not, then Martinair will probably die out.

Misterven1 wrote:

You think that Martinair just ceases to exist, that really does not happen, because Martinair has built up a significant role in the aviation world in the past.

Pan Am built up a significant role in the aviation world and look what happened to them. Martinair’s past is meaningless for its future. When/if AF/KLM is done with Martinair the airline will just be shut down and cease to exist. It’s not going to merge with anybody (eg Transavia), there is practically nothing left of MP to merge anyways. Outside of the Netherlands Martinair has little to no brand recognition, and even the brand in the Netherlands is fading as it moves further from its past glory days.

Martinair is also technically a subsidiary, being fully owned by KLM rather than being an standalone company under the AF/KLM Group. I dont think KLM is willing to part with their cargo divisions at the moment with the current crisis still hanging over their heads.

Misterven1 wrote:

ATC-NL will initially deploy 2 747-400Fs for freight liner services to Hong Kong, US and China. About the same lines that Martinair Cargo also flies on.

Not quite... Martinair operates their freighters on 4 lanes: JNB, VCP, BOG (via MIA) and once weekly ORD. That's very little overlap with the US plans of ATC-NL, and none with Hong Kong and China.

Yes, that's right, but that had happened among former French board members of AF-KLM, who really wanted Air France cargo to do a large part of the freight market than the Dutch Martinair. So they have reduced Martinair a lot and only serves a few freight lines from Amsterdam.

Is this really to blame on those pesky French board members, or on the general collapse of the air cargo market? Combined underfloor cargo space and super efficient shipping made most airlines largely or even completely dropping their cargo subsidiary, with or without French board members. Possibly even more critical in a country with such excellent harbours as NL.

The current pandemic or the ongoing Suez canal mishap are only temporary accidents.