Saudi Arabia has announced plans to transform Riyadh Airport into a six-runway airport and logistics hub that will have capacity to handle 3.5m tons of cargo by 2050. The site will include King Salman International Airport and will cover an area of approximately 57 sq km. It will also include 12 sq km of airport support facilities, residential and recreational facilities, retail outlets, and other logistics real estate, said official release. The development aims to boost Riyadh’s position as a global logistics hub, stimulate transport, trade and tourism, and act as a bridge linking the east with the west. The project is in line with Saudi Arabia’s vision to transform Riyadh to be among the top ten city economies in the world and to support the growth of the city’s population to 15–20m people by 2030.

Amerijet has shared its plans to expand further and hopes to double the size of its fleet in the coming five years. “The airline has experienced rapid growth in recent months as its fleet has grown from eight aircraft at the start of 2020 to operating 22 today – 16 B767s and six B757s. The aircraft looks to grow the fleet further,” said Tim Strauss, chief executive,” adding the another five B767s joining the fleet next year. “I think we can double the fleet again in another five years,” he added. The fleet growth registered over the last couple of years has helped propel revenues and volumes at the company in line with its expanded network and customer base. Last year, the company grew its sales by 40%, and this year it still expects to report a double-digit increase despite the market downturn, as per reports.

TechEagle, one of the fastest-growing drone delivery startup, unveiled Asia’s first drone delivery hub and network in Meghalaya. “The groundbreaking effort intends to improve the universal access to healthcare in the state by delivering vital supplies like drugs, diagnostic samples, vaccines, blood and blood components quickly and safely to different regions of the state using a dedicated drone delivery network,” said an official release. The project began with the inauguration of the hub built at the Jengjal Sub-Divisional Hospital by James P.K.Sangma, Minister, Health and Family Welfare, Meghalaya. “On the same day, the first official drone flight took off from Jengjal Sub-Divisional Hospital and delivered medicines to Padeldoba PHC in less than 30 minutes which would have otherwise taken 2.5 hours by road. TechEagle’s Vertiplane X3 drone delivered different healthcare products including snake venom-2 pax, Labetalol- 4 pax, Human Albumin-1 pax, Cefotaxime (typhoid dose)- 50 pax in its first flight, which was 5X faster in comparison to ground transportation, the release added.

Etihad Cargo, the cargo and logistics arm of Etihad Aviation Group, has reinforced its commitment to the Chinese and Indian markets, reinstating a twice-weekly freighter service from Shanghai to Abu Dhabi via Chennai starting 8 December. The additional freighter service will provide additional capacity into two key global markets. “The Indian market is currently booming,” said Martin Drew, Senior Vice President Global Sales & Cargo at Etihad Aviation Group. “The country’s industrial production is rising and manufacturing output is rebounding, driven by increases in the production of machinery and equipment, motor vehicles and metals, among others. As part of Etihad Cargo’s commitment to supporting this key market, the carrier has opened up freighter capacity from Chennai to support increased demand from customers in the region,” he added. This latest addition to Etihad Cargo’s network follows the introduction of twice-weekly direct flights to Guangzhou. With the introduction of this destination to the carrier’s network, Etihad Cargo became the first international airline to operate long-haul cargo and passenger services to the top three Chinese gateways — Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou — since the beginning of the pandemic. In addition to expanding operations in China and India, Etihad Cargo has continuously reviewed its global network, adding destinations and frequencies, and is optimising freighter utilisation to support key trade lanes and customer demand.

Air Vistara carried its first cargo shipment from Pune to Singapore, consisting of 1,650 kg of fresh, assorted Indian vegetables and fruits. It was transported from Pune to Singapore, said officials from Airports Authority of India (AAI). “While this is just the beginning of international cargo services from Pune to Singapore, traders and industrialists are demanding that the capacity of cargo services at Pune airport be increased. This was Air Vistara’s first nonstop flight from Pune to Singapore, with the aircraft being an Airbus A321neo, and the flight will be operated four times a week. Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, the nonstop flight will depart from Pune at 02.10 hours and reach Singapore at 10.30 hours,” they added. “It is an encouraging and positive moment for all of us to start this international cargo service from Pune to Singapore through this flight. All the arrangements and necessary facilities for cargo services are there at Pune airport and its current capacity for the Singapore flight is up to 2 tonnes of cargo goods. Hopefully in future, this cargo service will run to its full capacity,” said an official in a report.

Samir J. Shah – Advisor FFFAI; present Hon General Secretary ACAAI and Partner of the 67 years old JBS group has been elected as the Vice – Chairman of the Customs Affairs Institute – FIATA -International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations. FIATA – is an international body of Freight Forwarders founded in 1926 with a membership from more than 150 countries headquartered in Geneva. Switzerland. The Customs Affairs Institute works towards leveraging a partnership between global Customs authorities and Forwarders in protecting trade and industry from Customs related fraud and security threats to improve productivity and revenue. It observes, examines, and influences all Customs security policies and works with WCO; WTO; UNECE; UNCTAD; ICC; IRU and other relevant bodies to promote and encourage closer coordination with Customs authorities. Shah is a veteran of the industry having passed his Customs exam in 1984. He has extensive work experience not only in Customs but also Sea Cargo and Air Cargo Forwarding. He is known for his passion in spreading knowledge in all these verticals which he takes as his mission. He is a recipient of the World Customs Organisation’s Certificate of Merit for rendering exceptional service to the international Customs community. He has received numerous other awards and certificates for the work done till date. Besides EXIM Logistics he also works extensively on various associations like Gujarat Chamber of Commerce; TiE; FICCI; CII; Indo American Chamber of Commerce; US-India Importers council etc.

Air Cargo Forum India (ACFI) launched its Mumbai Chapter under the chairmanship of Manoj Singh, Senior Vice President & Head of Cargo, Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) on 1st December 2022 at Pharma Excellence Centre Auditorium, Export Cold Zone, Air Cargo Terminal, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. The event was inaugurated by Yashpal Sharma – ACFI President and Managing Director, Skyways Group. Mumbai Chapter Board for 2022-24 includes some well-known names of the industry: • Manoj Singh, ‘Chairman – ACFI Mumbai Chapter Board’, ‘Senior Vice President & Head of Cargo – MIAL’ • Chaitaly Mehta, ‘Vice Chairperson – ACFI Mumbai Chapter Board’, ‘Director – EKF Global Logistics Pvt Ltd’ • Rajesh Menon, Regional Head of Cargo – South Asia, Middle East and Africa, Cathay Pacific Airways • Aniruddha Daga, Owner, Daga Connect • Rajiv Hariramani, Director, Air Freight – Skyways Group • Mihir Bhadkamkar, Director, ATC Global Logistics • Harish Shetty, CFO – Cargo Service Center India Pvt Ltd • Ravi Kumar Tummalapalli, Managing Director, VA-Q-TEC • Vineet Malhotra, Co-Founder and Director, Kale Logistics Solutions Private Limited The Mumbai Committee, right from its inception will pursue all important trade issues in the region related to process simplification, knowledge & research, policy advocacy, upskilling the people by conducting trainings, events, and workshops etc. The core objective of Mumbai Chapter will be to align itself with the ACFI Head Office and achieve the common goals of steering the growth of Air Cargo sector along with the development of Indian economy. The newly elected Chairman Singh said, ”As the Chairman of Mumbai Chapter, I will continue to collaborate with each of our Task Force Pillars within ACFI for efficiently carrying out work in …

The Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI) recently celebrated its Foundation Day in Mumbai and shared plans to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee early 2023. Shankar Shinde, Chairman appreciated Govt.’s recent initiatives like ‘PM Gati Shakti’, ‘LEADS Report’, LPPT, ‘Faceless Assessment’, ‘Turant Customs’ to name a few and stressed on upskilling manpower with the help of technology. “FFFAI is constantly monitoring and analysing the entire ecosystem of the logistics industry in consultation with domain experts. Our focus is to upskill the domain knowledge with effective utilisation of emerging technologies. Our training arm IIFF is leaving no stone unturned in this regard. In addition, FFFAI has strengthened its Women and Youth Wings to guide women and young entrepreneurs to this highly potential and vibrant sector,” he said. FFFAI is in constant dialogue with the Government, other Trade Associations/Chambers of Commerce, and logistics industry stakeholders for creating a collective force for this sunrise sector. “FFFAI plays a constructive role in maintaining a constant rapport with the Customs, Port Trusts, Airport Authorities, Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), Central Warehousing Corporation, Central Excise, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), etc., to make its own contribution in the formulation of Policy and administrative measures and simplification of various procedures,” he added.

Air cargo pricing on some of the world’s major trade lanes continued to decline in November, bucking usual seasonal trends. The latest statistics from the Baltic Exchange Airfreight Index (BAI) show that spot and contract rates paid by forwarders on services from Hong Kong to North America slipped to an average of $6.49 per kg, compared with $6.74 per kg in October. Rates on the trade lane are also down on a year ago when forwarders were paying a whopping $11.54 per kg. Average prices from Hong Kong to Europe were also down on a month earlier, slipping to $5.62 per kg from $5.78 per kg in October. Last year rates on the lane for November stood at an average of $7.91 per kg. Prices usually increase in the run-up to December as the industry enters its peak season. The declines come as the air cargo market continues to slow after rapid growth in 2021. Inflation, slowing economies, the war in Ukraine and Covid lockdowns in China have all resulted in demand declines, IATA said in its latest monthly summary.

DHL’s latest Airfreight report suggests soaring inflation is likely to see reduced purchasing power and demand for air freight going into 2023. The monthly report details the latest developments of the global air freight market and is undertaken by DHL Global Forwarding. It shows that lower sales and high inventory are common across most sectors, with retail and manufacturing the most affected. This, it says, is encouraging shippers to use ocean options where possible to limit inventory and reduce freight costs. DHL points out that in pre-pandemic times Q4 would typically see a “burgeoning surge of air cargo demand and rates due to the approaching holiday season”. But it says that air freight volumes in October showed “almost no signs of a fourth-quarter cargo surge”. It concludes that the belief that this year would see the normalisation of trading patterns after two years of Covid-19 “premature”. DHL says that underpinning this dampening of demand is the current global average inflation rate of around 9%.