Category Archives: Aviation

Tej Mayur Contractor and Nil Tunasar were elected as Chairman and Deputy Chair of Advisory Body Information Technology (ABIT) at the virtual Annual General Meeting organized by the Federation Of Freight Forwarders Association In India (FFFAI) and FIATA, the International Freight Forwarders Association on June 30. FIATA sources said that both bring recognised expertise in the field of digitalisation and will further leverage the digitalisation of trade documents at FIATA. Tej is an Executive Committee member of FFFAI and President of Indian Institute of Freight Forwarding (a training arm of FFFAI).  Federation Of Freight Forwarders Association In India (FFFAI)  is the National Member of FIATA representing India and recommends membership of Logistics Service Providers for FIATA membership.

Pradhaan Air Express, India’s brand new all-cargo airline, to be based in Delhi, will begin commercial operations later this year with the world’s first A320 converted freighter. The first converted freighter, likely to arrive in Delhi later this month, will offer charter capacity to Indian shippers and freight forwarders on domestic and international routes. The launch of Pradhaan Air Express endorses the Govt’s vision to achieve 10 million tonnes of annual cargo throughput by 2030 and pushes the Indian air cargo market in global ranking. The conversion was done by Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW), a JV of ST Engineering and Airbus, at its facility in Singapore. The aircraft has been leased from Vaayu Group/Astral Aviation.  Interestingly, Pradhaan Air Express will be India’s first airline to operate an Airbus narrow-body freighter. The aircraft offers a payload of 21 tonnes with a fully palletized main deck. “We aim to make a small contribution to the big dreams of the Indian cargo industry by offering tailor-made solutions with on-demand charters’ ‘ said Vipul Bhalla, CBO, Pradhaan Air Express.

South Korea-based Air Premia Airlines with business operations across the regional and global circuits has gone live with IBS Software’s iCargo Management solutions for its air cargo business. With operations based at ICN airport, Air Premia flies to Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Los Angeles (US) by Boeing 787-9.  Air Premia is using the entire suite of iCargo Sales and operations from IBS Software, with US Customs capabilities to help streamline its cargo booking and operations processes, says official release. This covers everything from cargo reservation, capacity allocation and management, and AWB stock management. It also includes cargo product and service portfolio management, proactive disruption management, cargo acceptance and load planning to provide a streamlined service to customers, a report stated.

IndiGo, announcing Bahrain as its 25th global destination, will commence new direct flights between Mumbai-Bahrain with effect from August. With this new addition in 6E network, IndiGo will now connect to all six countries in the GCC. Sanjay Kumar, Chief Strategy and Revenue Officer, IndiGo said, “These new flights will enhance international connectivity and bolster trade and commerce and tourism between India and Bahrain, known for its pearl diving and trading. We will strive to stay true to our promise of affordable fares, on-time performance, courteous and hassle-free service across a wide network.” 

According to the latest statistics from the CLIVE data services, the demand for Air cargo declined for the fourth month in a row for June as compared to the last year. According to the data, Figures from the Xeneta-owned data provider show an 8% year-on-year decline in chargeable weight in June, following on from drops in March, April and May. The dynamic cargo load factor – taking into account weight and volume – for the month was nine percentage points behind last year at 59%. The load factor decline comes as demand fell and carriers continue to add capacity – up 6% on last year – to cater for returning passenger demand. Despite the weakening supply and demand conditions, rates for the year were up 13% compared with the same month last year, although there was a decline compared to May, added the report.

Kenya-based cargo airline Astral Aviation is all set to enter the Indian market under Pradhaan Air brand with an A320F plane. The company announced the news by posting a picture of the plane on its social media account. As per reports, Astral is keen to add freighters in future, primarily from the Airbus stable. Astral Founder and Chief Executive Sanjeev Gadhia said, “In addition to the two A320Fs we have acquired from Vaayu, which are the first converted A320Fs in the world, we have also signed a LoI to acquire two A321Fs by 2023 and four A330-300Fs (delivery between 2024 and 2025). We are also negotiating to acquire two A330-200Fs (2023-4) and four B777-300ERFs (2024-5).” 

IAG Cargo and CHAMP Cargosystems have extended their partnership for access to the largest air cargo community platform, Traxon cargoHUB. The carrier will continue to work with CHAMP on services for access to its vast global network of freight forwarders. IAG Cargo has been using CHAMP’s solution for over seven years. “The connectivity enables seamless and efficient communication with all of our supply chain partners worldwide,” said Angel Cabeza, Head, Technology Change, IAG Cargo. “We look forward to more years of service with CHAMP,” she added. Nicholas Xenocostas, VP Commercial & Customer Engagement, CHAMP Cargosystems said, “CHAMP looks forward to expanding our services and connect the airline to our community. We will continue to endeavour to provide the best services to connect all players throughout the air cargo supply chain.”

To broaden its reach and visibility, online booking portal CargoAi has joined digital air cargo project CargoTech. With CargoTech, CargoAi will combine forces with ECS Group’s Cargo Digital Factory and Wiremind Cargo. Cedric Millet, president, CargoTech said in a release, “What CargoTech was missing in its portfolio until now was an online distribution platform. CargoAi not only fills that gap as the world’s only cloud-native based, neutral, SaaS marketplace, but also brings the benefit of an expanded customer base.” The partners said that Cargo Digital Factory and Wiremind Cargo serve their customers’ internal processes, whereas CargoAi digitises the interface processes between freight forwarders and airlines or GSAs. “Given our cross-sectional reach, we see it as our responsibility to advocate sustainability within the industry, both by developing products that promote a greener future and by positioning ourselves as the sustainability experts within CargoTech,” Matthieu Petot, Chief Executive, CargoAi said.

To support growing cargo throughput, Kale Info Solutions, the US subsidiary of Kale Logistics Solutions, is all set to implement its Airport Cargo Community System at Vancouver International Airport (YVR), Canada. The tech solution will be implemented to improve efficiency for all stakeholders, streamlining cargo flows, and addressing airport truck congestion challenges, which continue to affect many North American airports as cargo volumes swell. YVR is investing in its cargo ops to ensure it can continue to meet growing demand, while identifying new solutions that will increase efficiencies with trucking and transportation, especially during peak hours. “This project is a testament to the efficacy of our solutions, and we look forward to helping the Vancouver Airport Authority and other airports in North America to overcome the challenge of truck congestion in the region,” said Amar More, President, Kale Info Solutions. “Our ACCS brings tremendous benefits in meeting environmental sustainability objectives with a major reduction of paperwork, carbon emissions and pollution, and creates a vibrant stakeholder digital eco-system around the airport,” he added.

Ministry of Civil Aviation in collaboration with FICCI held a stakeholder workshop for evaluation of Krishi UDAN 2.0 recently. The conference brought together experts from the air cargo sector for highlighting the benefits of Krishi UDAN and how the players can create a seamless transaction across the value chain. The workshop was chaired by Rajiv Bansal, Secretary, MoCA, and was moderated by Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, MoCA. The workshop was attended by Piyush Srivastava, Senior Economic Advisor, MoCA, Saurabh Endley, Joint Secretary, MoD North-eastern Region, Ashutosh Dey, Joint Secretary, DONER, Ajay Kumar, CEO, AAICLAS, senior dignitaries from MoCA, AAICLAS, FICCI, MoA & FW, Department of Fisheries, 26 Airport Directors across the country and various other stakeholders. Bansal said, “The air cargo industry realized the importance of sustainable air cargo ops in the past two years. Indian airlines and the airports should facilitate the transportation of agricultural products to create a sufficient demand for local producers in domestic and global market. We (MoCA) are willing to work on some pilot projects with the help of agricultural department and state governments regarding a transport subsidy scheme, which will help in faster transportation.”