Category Archives: Aviation

Brihanmumbai Custom Brokers Association (BCBA), under the leadership of President Dushyant Mulani celebrated its 85th Foundation Day at Y.B. Chavan Centre, on Monday, 19th December 2022. Vivek Phansalkar IPS, Commissioner of Police, Mumbai was the keynote speaker for the program. During his address, the Commissioner of Police emphasized on the awareness on Cybersecurity and prevention of cybercrime and steps that citizens need to undertake for keeping the predators at the bay. He gave considerable insights on the overall Law & order as well, particularly in the Digital era which is now increasingly touching the daily lives of the citizens. He appreciated the efforts of BCBA for undertaking the initiative for its members and for trade at large. He instructed his team to extend co-operation and requested the audience to educate themselves and spread the awareness, particularly since his team of officers was available to guide on Cybersecurity to Custom Broker members and Exim trade Industry. The Police Commissioner’s speech was followed by a presentation by Suvarna Shinde, Senior Police Inspector on awareness of Cybersecurity which was very well praised by the audience. The Chief Guest for the program, Principal Chief Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai Zone I, P.K. Agrawal graced the occasion along with Chief Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai Zone III, Roopam Kapoor, as the Guest of Honour. Kapoor complemented the role of BCBA and urged that with the Time Release Study coming up, BCBA and its members to expedite the clearances, particularly in case of Air Cargo, where consignments are time sensitive. He reassured that Customs will provide full back up and support to trade and industry for timely clearances. P. K. Agrawal congratulated BCBA and the members on the …

Glyn Hughes, Director General, TIACA said, “From an industry perspective we were very pleased to see increase in innovation and digital connectivity. The investment in P2F conversions and in production freighters will ensure the industry has sufficient capacity available when the current downturn in demand reverses. We need to collectively enhance the value proposition and increase the awareness of what a vital role this industry plays in the global economy and global society. I think the key question for 2023 is when will the current economic challenges which have impacted consumers subside? High inflation, high energy costs and high interest rates have conspired with job insecurity to create defensive patterns in consumer spending. When these influences turn more positive we can expect to see significant industry growth resuming. For TIACA we expect to see further focus on sustainability and people issues.”

“We expect the forthcoming budget to provide a balance between the economic growth priorities and inflation concerns, in an all-encompassing manner. The momentum of growth at which India has come up post the pandemic cannot be declined. We believe that the budget 2022 will be very carefully structured to sustain the growth momentum and continued infrastructure development, irrespective of the ups and downs,” says, Vineet Agarwal, Managing Director, TCI while sharing his views and expectations on the upcoming budget 2023-2024. “As the government’s vision to ease supply chain bottlenecks is quite evident in the scale of decisions and initiatives which have been undertaken in the recent past. The continued focus on execution of specific strategies will improve global competitiveness. Reducing logistics cost and creating a technology-enabled structure will help to achieve the target of positioning India among the top 25 countries in the Logistics Performance Index. In addition, emphasis on upskilling programs like Gati Shakti Vishwavidalya will help the logistics sector contribute its best in India leading the Industrial Revolution 4.0 & 5G era,” he adds.

Mahesh Malik, Chief Commercial Officer – CarGo, IndiGo, shared his predictions for 2023 and said, “We are evaluating various opportunities available in this sector. Recently, we commenced domestic operations of our first A321 Freighter aircraft between Delhi and Mumbai, carrying 20 tons of general and e-commerce CarGo and our first international A321 P2F freighter flight between Kolkata and Yangon on November 22, 2022, with the payload of more than 19,000 kg. In general, Indian airlines are increasing their cargo capacity with the segment emerging as a critical and promising revenue stream. The dedicated freighter fleet of India has seen a dramatic rise to 28 aircraft from 5 over the last few years. As demand increases the number of freighter fleet is expected to rise as airlines in India are looking to add dedicated aircraft for cargo operations. The cargo operations across the aviation industry fared better than passenger segment amid the pandemic and helped the aviation industry stay afloat. Our plan is to develop a profitable network which will include expanding to international destinations such as Hong Kong and Vietnam. However, we will continue to build a robust CarGo network domestically and focus on expansion to tier II- III cities through our fleet of passenger narrow body aircraft.”

Air Canada is preparing to expand its Vancouver, British Columbia, cargo terminal in preparation for receiving two 777 factory-built freighters from Boeing that will operate on trans-Pacific routes, said Jason Berry, vice president of cargo in a statement. The upgrade is part of a large program to improve cargo hubs across its network. Air Canada currently occupies a stand-alone facility that processes shipments moving on passenger aircraft at Vancouver International Airport. A tenant in an adjacent hangar is moving out and Air Canada will begin work in January on connecting and refurbishing the two buildings. “We’re in the early stages of just determining flow and process and how do you want it to look. It’s a big commitment for us,” Berry said.

Qantas Freight is expecting record volumes of freight in December as domestic demand surge due to increases in online shopping. The freighter operator said that it expects to carry around 26,000 tonnes of freight to domestic, regional and international cities, which would be an increase on last December’s record volumes and up around 50% on average monthly uplift. Meanwhile, domestic volumes are expected to be up around 75% on pre-Covid levels as online shopping deliveries ramp up. Qantas Freight operates 19 dedicated freighters domestically, including up to 16 for Australia Post, and four international freighters. Qantas executive manager for freight, Catriona Larritt, said: “Along with our partner Australia Post we’ve been planning for this bumper season since last Christmas. “We’ve seen huge increases in online shopping since the start of the pandemic and remains strong. “In the last few weeks of December, many people super-charge their online shopping sprees to take advantage of door-to-door express deliveries for themselves as well as gifts for family and friends.” To meet the demand, the company is rostering on more staff, using bigger aircraft and putting on special charter services. “In the busiest days leading up to Christmas we’ll carry around 1,200 tonnes of cargo, around double our daily average amount across our freight fleet and in the belly of passenger flights,” she added. “Our domestic services alone will be moving up to 650 tonnes on the busiest nights.” Australia Post general manager premium services and international Mark Davies added: “This year has been bigger than ever for us, in fact to help support the increase in parcel and mail volume we have increased our dedicated freighter capacity by up to 50% in the …

Cargolux and DB Schenker have added a direct API interface to their respective IT systems that will allow the forwarder to book capacity on the freighter operator’s aircraft. The carrier said that the connection would provide a direct interface between both companies’ systems to “generate tailored and immediate, bookable quotes”. Cargolux’s Austria, Spain and Portugal offices were selected to participate in the project. The interface offers dynamic pricing options based on specific requirements such as weight, routing, and product type. Cargolux executive vice president sales & marketing Domenico Ceci said: “The implementation of API offers customers more choice and flexibility when booking their cargo with us. “Launching this venture in collaboration with a key customer such as DB Schenker highlights both companies’ wish to pursue digitalisation and continue looking for innovative solutions in the industry.” Stefan Spriestersbach, head of production systems, DB Schenker global airfreight, added: “The new connectivity will further transform our joint process into the latest technology and is clearly a remarkable milestone of the professional collaboration. “This innovation brings benefit to all stakes of our transportation chain through digital proposition and exchange – Cargolux as preferred partner, our global customer base and the entire global Air Freight network of DB Schenker.”

Over the next decade, we will invest in new infrastructure and facilities to meet demand. With the fast-paced growth in business and rising demands, we intend to remain at the forefront of providing world-class facilities, infrastructure and technology to our customers, partners and stakeholders,” said Satyaki Raghunath, Chief Strategy & Development Officer, Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL). “We are looking at the development of a new domestic cargo terminal, refurbishing the existing cargo terminals with enhanced capacity and the expansion of cold-chain facility. With the government getting involved and focusing on logistics efficiency and infrastructural development through initiatives like Gati Shakti and NLP, we are expecting to have an extremely favourable environment to grow our cargo business. We believe that we can cater to around 1.5 million MT of cargo annually in the next decade and we are preparing for that,” he added. Airfreight volumes through BLR Airport have grown considerably over the last 10 years with a CAGR of 11 per cent (pre-COVID). According to internal estimates, the Airport’s unconstrained cargo potential is estimated to be 1.7 – 1.9 million metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) by 2038. This estimate was arrived at considering the natural catchment areas of Bangalore and the proximity of trucking distance that is approximately 7-12 hours from major export and import hubs in the region.  The design capacity of the airport’s cargo operations by the end of the financial year FY 21/22 was enhanced from 570,000 MTPA to 715,000 MTPA, he further informed.

Geodis has signed an agreement to acquire trans-o-flex, a leading company in the premium express sector in Germany specialized in temperature controlled transport for pharmaceutical products as well as in time definite delivery of products for cosmetics, automotive and high-tech industries. Since 2016 the company is owned by the families Schoeller and Amberger who have invested to scale it up to a leading specialized distribution player. Marie-Christine Lombard, Chief Executive Officer of GEODIS, said: “The acquisition of trans-o-flex is a key step forward enabling us to increase our footprint in Germany. It is consistent with our ambition to strengthen our global end-to-end logistics solutions to support our customers’ growth and geographic development. This acquisition will position GEODIS as a leading player in the healthcare market and will significantly enhance our delivery capabilities in Germany, a country at the heart of global trade. We have been impressed by the expertise and the commitment to the highest quality of service of trans-o-flex’s management team. We welcome the trans-o-flex team to GEODIS and together we believe we can further support our customers on both sides by combining our respective and complementary strengths in Germany, in Europe and globally. In order to achieve this, we have agreed with Christoph Schoeller, who is currently trans-o-flex’s Chairman of the Advisory Board, Vice-Chairman of the supervisory board and shareholder with Peter Amberger, that he will remain as Vice-Chairman of the new supervisory board presided by myself.”

CMA CGM Air Cargo will place its capacity on booking portal CargoAi as it looks to expand its reach with SME forwarders. CMA CGM is the 71st airline to place its capacity on the CargoAi portal and that the addition meant that forwarders can search from 195 origins to 447 destinations. The portal is also the first online marketplace to offer CMA CGM capacity for instant booking “in line with CMA CGM’s first own scheduled freighter service from Paris to Hong Kong SAR and vice versa”. Matt Petot, founder and chief executive of CargoAi, said: “We have been growing very fast thanks to our different approach and special focus on making it simple for our airlines to integrate and for our forwarders users to make bookings. “Our unique combination of tech and air cargo talents has helped to showcase that CargoAi can deliver modern tech solutions at a very fast pace to this industry. “We have still a lot of work to do and 2023 looks already very exciting as CargoAi will focus on delivering new solutions outside of our e-booking platform (CargoMART) and work on customized projects for our partners.” Magali Beauregard, chief commercial officer of CargoAi, added: “We’re thrilled that CargoMART becomes the first marketplace to sell CMA CGM’s freighter service. This is a great addition to our existing airline portfolio that users on www.CargoAi.co get benefit from.” CMA CGM Air Cargo is owned by shipping giant CMA CGM and launched operations in 2021.