By Damian Brett | 16 September 2026
Image: © IAG Cargo, MASkargo, Qatar Airways Cargo
Singapore has approved the proposed ‘metal neutral’ cargo partnership between Qatar Airways, IAG Cargo and MAB Kargo that includes co-operation on scheduling, pricing and sales.
The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCS) said that the joint business agreement (JBA) is unlikely to eliminate competition on affected routes.
CCS also assessed that the Proposed JBA could generate market benefits such as a wider network and better cargo services that more than make up for the reduction in competition on those routes.
The three airlines initially applied to the CCS for approval for their partnership in January, with approval finally being granted on 16 September.
According to the application, there are 30 overlapping routes that include Singapore.
The CCS said in the initial application documents that the partnership aimed to achieve metal neutrality in respect of the provision of air cargo transportation services on the relevant routes.
CCS described metal neutrality as a cooperative airline arrangement where partners “jointly manage capacity and pricing whilst sharing profits equally, making them indifferent to which airline’s plane or ‘metal’ carries the cargo”.
The proposed agreement would cover services across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Americas routes and would generate “significant consumer and economic benefits and efficiencies”, the applicants said.
Other claimed benefits of the arrangement are: Cost-effective and efficient cargo operations, resulting in higher quality air cargo services and expedited transfers of shipments; enhanced cargo network and capacity; elimination of double marginalisation; cost synergies; wider range of products, services and rate options; and streamlined sales and integrated customer experience.
The three airlines announced they would launch a joint global cargo business in April 2025 and provided more details on the plans at a press conference at the Air Cargo Europe event.
The three cargo divisions said the unique partnership would align cargo from booking to delivery, across their networks.
The Qatar-IAG-MAS partnership aims to ensure bookings with any of the airlines will be integrated and visible across all operating systems, covering the whole combined network.
Real-time tracking, product/service alignment for various verticals and a singular loyalty programme – Avios – will also be used.
The aim is to ensure that shipments are treated equally throughout the combined network, regardless of which airline a customer or forwarder originally booked with, they explained at the press conference.