KF Cargo (FK, Kelowna) has abandoned its Toronto Pearson hub after just ten months citing lack of viability. In May last year, the freight specialist set about developing Toronto into its intercontinental hub offering longhaul connectivity to Brussels National, Belgium with its fleet of two DC-10-30(F)s.
However, ten months down the line, excess bellyhold cargo capacity on mainline passenger carriers between Canada and Europe has forced KF Cargo to quit the Canadian metropolis.
“It wasn’t economically viable, so we’re discontinuing the operation at Pearson,” Bryan Akerstream, KF Cargo's director of business development, told Canada's Skies magazine in an interview. “We came to the conclusion that there is too much belly freight capacity in the market, at least for the North Atlantic route we were flying, and there isn’t space for an all-cargo carrier.”
The firm has since laid off eight of its Toronto-based personnel while four engineers were transferred back to the company’s heavy MRO facilities at Hamilton, ON and Kelowna. The carrier's two DC-10 freighters have also been ferried back to Hamilton where their futures currently remain uncertain given KF Cargo's intention to retire them from service.
“We’re looking at potential options including sale or lease," Akerstream said. "We have no intention of operating them ourselves.”
As for the rest of KF Cargo's fleet, six B727-200(F)s are in storage in Hamilton with the other five having been stored or sold off for scrap. KF Cargo continues to operate six CV-580 freighters on a contract with Purolator Courier.
While it is looking for other opportunities to arise, Akerstream said that KF Cargo would focus its attentions on its heavy MRO business and on military pilot training in Southport.
