Category Archives: Aviation

Pradhaan Air Express is all set to welcome its second Airbus 320 in Q2 of this year. “We will be the only airline to operate the A320 Freighter for some more months, it does get lonely when you are the only operator of a particular aircraft type,” shares Vipul Bhalla – Chief Business Officer – Pradhaan Air Express, adding, “We have concentrated on a few routes in the beginning as we were getting to know the aircraft and its capabilities. With nearly six months of operations behind us, we are now getting ready to explore new markets and routes. We want to expand our bases and enhance collaboration. It was a very proud moment for our team when we crossed 100 international commercial operations in February. We continue to gather speed since.” ********************************************************************************

LATAM Cargo Group announced the addition of a new Boeing 767 BCF to its fleet, which now totals 17 cargo aircraft, allowing for a six percent increase in capacity offered to customers. “With this arrival, the company is moving forward with its announced growth plan, which would see it reach a total of up to 20 Boeing 767 cargo aircraft by 2024, coming close to doubling its pre- pandemic capacity offering, and thus reaffirming its position as one of the leading cargo airlines groups in the region,” says an official release. Andrés Bianchi, CEO, LATAM Cargo Group says: “We welcome this new freighter during another challenging period for the air freight industry. When we designed our capacity plan in 2019, we had these periods in mind. Therefore, we seeked to build a freighter fleet that could sustain high levels of service while continuing to add value to our shareholders during a downturn like this one. Complementing our broad belly network with an efficient, mid-size aircraft like the Boeing 763F does that. Moreover, we can do so better as we continue capitalising on the productivity gains of recent years. As a consequence, we are confident this new addition will further contribute to strengthening our value proposition and expand our network.” The new aircraft, converted in Singapore, will focus on increasing capacity currently offered from Europe, generating greater connectivity to Central and South America via New York and Miami with two new weekly frequencies. “It will also provide support on new routes such as the recently announced one operating on the Quito (Ecuador) – Los Angeles (United States) – Houston (United States) – Manaus (Brazil) – Viracopos, São Paulo (Brazil) routes.”

Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) organised the 1st Freighter cargo transshipment movement of Bangladesh export cargo from Celebi Delhi Air Cargo terminal. Atlas Air carried 124 MT of cargo on it’s B 747-800 aircraft to Spain.

CAPA India Aviation Summit opens at Hyatt Hotel in New Delhi today with a focus on Indian aviation and air cargo outlook in FY2024 and for the next 5 years. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India will deliver the key note on India on course to be an aviation powerhouse followed by sessions on Sustainability, Skills & Diversity: Building a Better Aviation Industry and CAPA India’s Exclusive Presentation on Reinventing the Airline Business Model and lot more. Day two will have Keynote address by Rajiv Bansal, Secretary of Civil Aviation, Government of India on Privatising Air India to unleash the potential of Indian aviation. The three day event will be graced by the industry stakeholders from across the globe including airlines, airports, researchers, GSA’s and many others.

Tokyo Narita International Airport is set for major investment with a new project to develop air cargo logistics facilities. Commercial property company Goodman Group will partner with Tako Town, in close collaboration with Narita International Airport Corporation (NAA) and Chiba Prefecture, to carry out the project on a 70-hectare site. The site in the Iizasa area of Tako Town, Chiba Prefecture is connected to a planned expansion of Tokyo Narita that will create a third runway, scheduled for completion in March 2029. The project will see the logistics space for cargo fully integrated with Narita Airport, helping bring NAA’s “New Narita” initiative to life, said Goodman Group. Goodman is targeting completion in March 2029 to coincide with the opening of Tokyo Narita’s third runway. The air logistics hub is being developed for the “International Exchange Complex” as part of Tako Town’s master plan, which was created in March 2021, added Goodman Group. The complex will be designed to seamlessly streamline cargo operations into and out of the airport. Recently, Chiba Prefecture and nine cities and towns (including Narita City and Tako Town) surrounding Tokyo Narita agreed to create a plan to develop an international industrial hub under the Regional Future Investment Promotion Act.

Lufthansa Cargo is weighing up further orders of short- and mid-haul-sized freighters but there are no further plans for orders of widebody all-cargo aircraft. The Frankfurt-hubbed airline has ordered a series of freighters over the last couple of years as it looks to modernise its freighter fleet, expand capacity, replace the MD-11F aircraft it has retired and move into the intra-European e-commerce market, said release. The carrier currently operates 11 B777Fs, while AeroLogic, its 50/50 joint venture with DHL, operates five of the aircraft for Lufthansa. The carrier also has two A321Fs, which are operated by sister airline CityLine and are used on European services for e-commerce customers. It also has a further two B777Fs on order – part of an order for three of the aircraft placed last year – which are due to be delivered in the third and fourth quarter of this year. Lufthansa Cargo chief executive Dorothea von Boxberg said that the first of these aircraft will be operated by AeroLogic, while a decision has yet to be taken on the second. Elsewhere, a further two A321Fs are due to be delivered this year and the carrier has also ordered seven new-generation B777-8F freighters. Delivery of the seven new B777-8Fs is expected between 2027 and 2030.

According to a latest report by Trade And Transport Group titled, India Air Cargo Outlook 2023, “The Indian air cargo market generated 2.2 million tonnes of traffic-1/5th the size of China’s and about 1/10th the size of the U.S. air cargo market – with about 30 per cent of the traffic generated on the domestic and the remainder on the international sectors. “Around 90 per cent of international traffic is carried by non-Indian carriers with Gulf-based carriers as well as Aerologic (operating for Lufthansa Cargo and DHL), Cathay and Turkish being the most important.” Cargo handled across Indian airports may touch 2.4-2.5 million tonnes in 2023 even as passenger/belly capacity comes back, says Frederic Horst, Managing Director, Trade and Transport Group. “With 5-6 Indian conglomerates investing abroad, the India link is always going to be strong. So, India is in a good position as far as trade is concerned.” International cargo traffic has not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels but domestic traffic has, driven by express, e-commerce as well as general freight traffic, the report said. Five Indian carriers now operate freighters. “Three of these – IndiGo, Quikjet and Pradhaan Air Express – commenced operations in the last 12 months using narrow body freighters.” Five carriers are in various stages of start-up “but the Indian air cargo landscape is littered with just as many failed airlines.” The largest carrier in the Indian market is currently Aerologic (14 percent) followed by Qatar Airways (12 percent), Emirates (12 percent), Air India/Air India Express (8 percent) and Cathay Pacific (7 percent). Turkish Airlines has increased its share to about 5 percent of the market. (In the case of Aerologic, there has been a …

LATAM Cargo has received its 17th freighter to strengthen its cargo offering. The Boeing B767-300F has been converted from LATAM’s passenger fleet, said the carrier. Another six B767Fs are due next year. LATAM has also expanded its belly capacity in South America. LATAM Airlines Brazil will begin operating a Sao Paulo/Guarulhos-Passo Fundo route with daily flights from March 28. Plus, LATAM Airlines Colombia will begin daily Bogota-Riohacha flights from March 28. LATAM Cargo also recently added a new freighter service between North and South America to target flower volumes in the region. This freighter service will operate between Ecuador, Brazil and the US, calling: Quito, Los Angeles, Houston, Manaus and Viracopos. The service will initially operate twice weekly, but will increase to four rotations later this year when new freighters are added. At the end of October, LATAM Cargo and partner DSV increased freighter flights from Huntsville International Airport in Alabama to Viracopos in Brazil from one to three weekly frequencies. The partners are utilising a B767-300F as they look to capitalise on demand to South America. This came shortly after the carrier had taken delivery of its 16th freighter.

Global Crossing Airlines Group (GlobalX) has reached an agreement to lease an additional A321 Passenger to Freighter (P2F) aircraft for delivery in December this year. The carrier received approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration for cargo operations in February and commenced flights with its first A321P2F aircraft in the same month, said release. “We are pleased to be able to add an additional A321F to our delivery schedule for 2023. We expect now to take delivery of a total of six A321Fs this year, including the first freighter (N410GX) which entered revenue service in February,” said Ed Wegel, chair and chief executive of GlobalX. Previously a passenger ACMI and charter airline, Miami-based GlobalX said in February it expected its second A321P2F to arrive by mid-March and its third A321P2F to be delivered in May. However, the company now expects its second A321P2F to arrive in April. “We expect delivery of our second A321F in mid April, and that aircraft has been completely booked by our cargo clients for the next 12 months,” said Wegel. The company plans on acquiring 25 freighters in total, which will equal the number of passenger charter aircraft in the fleet. Wegel added: “We continue work on the certification of GlobalX Colombia which will operate the A321F and expect to enter phase 3 of that certification by May, 2023.” The first A321P2F aircraft was converted by ST Engineering and delivered to Miami International Airport (MIA) in December. The A321P2F has a capacity of 14 upper deck and 10 lower deck containers, which is 55% more containerised volume than the Boeing B737-800 freighter and 14% more containerised volume than the B757-200F, said GlobalX. GlobalX serves the …

DP World and Grupo Puntacana have partnered to develop a new air cargo logistics hub in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, boosting the country’s position as the largest trade and logistics centre in the Caribbean. “The new facility is being created through an agreement between DP World and the Punta Cana Free Trade Zone (PCFTZ), a company of Grupo Puntacana,” says a release from DP World. “It will include a new logistics centre and infrastructure platforms capable of supporting multimodal air, land and sea cargo. Operations are expected to commence in late second quarter 2023.” The logistics centre will harness DP World’s extensive Dominican Republic multimodal cargo management experience and world-class standards for handling logistics operations globally as well as the high connectivity of the Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ) to global distribution centres, the release added. DP World began operations in the Dominican Republic in 2003 at its port facility at the Punta Caucedo peninsula, a strategic place for the redistribution of cargo to the Caribbean, the United States, Central America and South America.