Category Archives: Aviation

Maersk has inaugurated a new airfreight gateway near Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airport (ATL) as it continues to build its US airfreight business. The 123,000 sq ft site will act as a forward staging facility for Maersk Air Cargo’s Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport own controlled flight operations – from which it operates five Boeing 747 freighter return flights per week to Hahn, Germany, and two 767F flights per week to Shenyang, China, with onward connection to Seoul, Korea. The Atlanta facility further builds Maersk’s airfreight services in North America. The company recently opened a new Chicago airfreight gateway facility to add more supply chain integration opportunities for customers using Chicago O’Hare International and Rockford International, says release.

The decline in global air cargo volumes eased again in June but the ‘fear-of-missing-out (FOMO)’ created an irrational airline and freight forwarding market as shippers indulged in a 41% year-on-year fall in the general airfreight spot rate, shows the latest weekly data from industry analysts, CLIVE Data Services, part of Xeneta. Air cargo capacity rose 8% year-over-year in June but despite this surge in availability, the drop in global chargeable weight stayed at -1%, repeating the market performance seen in May. However, the -41% fall in the market average took the global air cargo spot rate down to US$2.31 per kg. Niall van de Wouw, Chief Airfreight Officer at Xeneta, said June’s air cargo data demonstrates the jumpiness in the market. “The surprise in June is the difference between the sentiment in the market and what the actual data is showing us. It is getting pretty nasty out there and stress levels among airlines and forwarders are clearly rising, but we see a clear distinction between market sentiment and market fundamentals and sentiment is more negative right now. “Airlines and forwarders are getting jumpy because of falling rates, not so much the volumes. It’s the fear-of-missing-out that is driving the aggressive drop in cargo rates because no one wants to lose volumes, and they also want to get more of the cargo that’s in the market. We can see forwarders taking big risks,” he said.

To cater to our growth and future demand, we are investing in a brand new, state-of-the-art Cargo Terminal 2 with an additional capacity of 3.4 million tonnes, says Liesbeth Oudkerk, Senior Vice President, Cargo Sales and Network Planning, Qatar Airways in an exclusive chat. This cargo facility of the future will be a safe, smart, and green facility relying heavily on technology and automation for its material handling. It will offer faster storage and retrieval and cargo processing, enabling us to offer shorter connection for the growing demand of transit cargo. This building will be built on LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating framework, which is the most widely used green building rating system in the world. Available for virtually all building types, LEED provides a framework for healthy, highly efficient, and cost-saving green buildings.

Qatar Airways Cargo (QAC) and Airlink have delivered 58 shipments on behalf of 22 organisations giving $2.1 million in transportation relief, mobilising 351 tonnes of humanitarian goods to seventeen countries since renewing their strong partnership in April 2022. This translates to an estimated 5.8 million people worldwide. Much needed aid has been sent to several countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Philippines, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Bangladesh, Türkiye, and Syria. The types of cargo flown are medicines, medical supplies, hospital beds, solar equipment, nutritional supplements, water and sanitation supplies, tarps, blankets, hygiene kits. The partnership with Qatar Airways Cargo also benefits Airlink’s nonprofit partners as well who assist global communities impacted by disasters and other humanitarian cities around the world.

Register now to listen to very interesting and insightful discussion on How India can increase generic drugs global market share from 20% to 40%?’ on July 21st, 2023 at 11am to 12 Noon. The third Pharma Digital Conclave being organised by Cargo Talk in association with Cargo Service Center (CSC) will provide the in-depth information on Pharma exports and manufacturing of generic drugs in India. on The digital conclave will have Mr. Tushar Jani, Group Chairman, Cargo service Center, Mr. Murali Krishna, Director, Pharmexcil, Mr. Devang Vyas, Global Logistics Head, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and Mr. Bharat Bhushan Rathi, Head Distribution and Logistics, Mankind Pharma on the panel. The session will be moderated by Mr Sanjeet, CEO, DDP Group. Register now Learn more from the experts Link:- https://event.webinarjam.com/register/537/0vz1oi2x

Lufthansa Cargo and Kuehne+Nagel (K+N) have launched paperless corridors for shipments between Europe and Asia as part of efforts to digitalise cargo. In a pilot phase, the two partners achieved 100% paperless shipments for general cargo on the lane between Germany and Hong Kong. This includes the use of electronic air waybills and other accompanying documents and paper pouches. In the next phase more lanes will be targeted. “By increasing the number of paperless lanes, a whole paperless corridor between Europe and Asia will be built for general cargo where the transport of paper could be eliminated,” Lufthansa Cargo said. The two companies said that paperless shipments were more environmentally friendly and created operational efficiency. Jan-Wilhelm Breithaupt, vice president global fulfillment management, Lufthansa Cargo, said: “We see great opportunities in this initiative as it supports all participants in pushing their handling efficiencies as well as increasing data availability and transparency throughout their network.

SF Airlines has added a second freighter service from Ezhou Huahu Airport to Europe as the carrier continues to ramp up operations from the recently opened hub. The twice-weekly service will operate to Frankfurt using a Boeing 747-400 freighter and joins SF Airlines’ first European service from Ezhou, which calls at Liege. SF Airlines said the flights will mainly transport “express mail, e-commerce cargo, general cargo”. The carrier already operates flights to Frankfurt from Wuxi and Wuhan. Ezhou Huahu Airport airport officially opened in July last year and is promoted as China’s first “professional cargo hub airport”. The first international flight from the airport took place in April. “Since April this year, SF Airlines has successively opened international routes from Ezhou to Liege in Belgium, Chennai in India, Delhi in India, Los Angeles in the US, Frankfurt in Germany and other places, initially forming an air network radiating from Ezhou to Europe, South Asia and North America layout,” the carrier said. “Next, SF Airlines will continue to develop international routes in Ezhou, improve the service capabilities of the international supply chain, help Ezhou Huahu Airport build a world-class air cargo hub, and boost the high-quality development of the local air logistics industry and export-oriented economy.” Earlier this year, SF Airlines added its 80th freighter aircraft. The SF Airlines fleet now includes three B747-400ERFs, 19 B767-300BCFs, 41 B757-200Fs, and 17 B737-300/400Fs.

CargoTech welcomes its fifth member: CharterSync which brings air cargo charter expertise to CargoTech, neatly rounding off the group’s product palette whilst at the same time directing a strong digital focus towards an air cargo niche that is still largely manual. CharterSync joining the CargoTech family opens up an entirely new product offering. Digitalisation within the air cargo charter segment has largely been unexplored to date. It lags behind scheduled air cargo capacity processes, and operations are still highly manual. The addition of CharterSync as the group’s fifth member, offers forwarders and airlines a unique opportunity to bring enhanced value and efficiency to their charter process without compromising on service levels. It further expands the CargoTech ecosystem to include experts across all segments, capable of elaborating on the big picture whilst at the same time tailoring solutions to individual customer requirements. Within CargoTech, CharterSync’s expertise creates a significant number of natural synergies with the other members that will now be explored. One immediate example is adapting Wiremind Cargo’s SkyPallet within CharterSync’s solution.

GMR Hyderabad Aviation SEZ, a 100 percent subsidiary of GMR Hyderabad International Airport, has signed a land lease agreement with Safran Aircraft Engines Services India, a subsidiary of Safran, a global leader in aircraft propulsion and equipment, space and defence markets with headquarters in Paris, France. Spread across 23.5 acres of the land parcel within the SEZ area, the facility will occupy around 36,500 sqm of built-up space, says a release from GMR. “The construction of the facility will commence in September 2023. The facility is expected to be handed over in December 2024. This facility in Hyderabad will be the largest MRO centre in the Safran Aircraft Engines network. Operations are set to commence in 2025 and will provide employment to about 1,000 workers at its peak operation capacity. The facility will adhere to Safran’s most stringent standards for industrial processes and machinery, including cutting-edge technologies like the latest integrated inspection methods and real-time monitoring of the maintenance shop process’s parameters. The new facility will operate on 100 percent sustainable green energy from the GMR solar farm.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new integrated terminal building of Veer Savarkar International Airport in Port Blair on Tuesday via video conferencing. According to the press release by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the project is aimed at enhancing the connectivity infrastructure which has been a major focus of the government. “The inauguration of the New Integrated Terminal Building, built at a cost of around ₹710 crore, will play a key role in boosting connectivity of the island UT. With a total built up area of around 40,800 sqm., the new terminal building will be capable of handling about 50 lakh passengers annually. An Apron suitable for two Boeing-767-400 and two Airbus-321 types of aircraft has also been constructed at Port Blair Airport at a cost of ₹80 crore, making the airport now suitable for parking of ten aircrafts at a time,” the statement said.