Category Archives: Aviation

Air Canada and Air Canada Cargo have announced the initial list of planned routes for the Boeing 767-300ER freighters scheduled to enter service this fall. Air Canada is in the process of fully converting several of its Boeing 767 aircraft into dedicated freighters in order to fully participate in global cargo commercial opportunities. “These freighters will provide long-term stability and growth for our cargo customers, in particular the freight forwarding community who require reliable air freight capacity year-round. They will allow us to continue building on the success of our cargo-only flights and are an important part of our future growth. I am excited to have these aircraft enter service, a milestone for Air Canada Cargo that also opens up a world of opportunities for us and our customers,” said Jason Berry, vice president, Cargo at Air Canada.

Teleport, the logistics venture of airasia digital is further reinforcing its position as a key air logistics player in Asia with the operation of its very first freighter, a dedicated 737-800F and the conversion of two (2) AirAsia A320 passenger aircrafts, with seats removed for increased capacity. The freighter will begin operations across Asia beginning Q3 2021 and will operate out of the Teleport hub in Bangkok. The additional capacity will strengthen its route network between China, India and Southeast Asia and offer improved connectivity to and from Teleport’s long-haul markets. Adrian Loretz, Chief Operating Officer of Teleport said, “We are excited to share this expansion as we strengthen our logistics footprint across Asia. It was evident at the end of last year that the demand for cargo capacity was not going to be served with passenger belly capacity alone in the long run. So, we evaluated the option to utilise dedicated freighters to transport cargo. This is also part of our strategy to build the capacity and connectivity to offer 24 hours door-to-door delivery across all of Southeast Asia.”

In continued effort to support India and combat the second wave of COVID-19, FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and the world’s largest express transportation company, today announced the arrival of a third dedicated charter flight carrying much needed COVID-19 supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) to India. The third FedEx Boeing 777F charter flight carrying over 250,000 face shields, 100,000 goggles, more than 80,000 coveralls and gowns and over 134,000 KN95 and N95 masks landed on June 13, 2021 in Mumbai, India from Memphis, Tennessee. Items arriving on the charter flight were donated by Dignity Health, coordinated by TMC Navya, and will be distributed by Direct Relief to medical facilities in India through Tata Memorial Centre. To date, FedEx has moved thousands of oxygen concentrators, and hundreds of tonnes of medical supplies and aid into the country. FedEx has previously donated two charter Boeing 777F flights from the USA to India, which flew on May 9 and May 16, transporting thousands of oxygen concentrators and other medical aid for Direct Relief.

AirBridgeCargo Airlines has awarded a three-year cargo handling contract to Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) in Atlanta. WFS said the carrier is its “launch customer” at its new cargo terminal at Atlanta International Airport. Under the terms of the agreement, the handler will process around 9,500 tonnes of cargo each year from AirBridgeCargo’s Boeing 747-400ERF freighter flights. WFS opened its cargo terminal at Atlanta Airport in May this year under a 20-year lease agreement. The facility is located in the hub’s new Cargo Building C, the first new cargo terminal to open at the airport since the 1980s. Mike Simpson, executive vice president Americas at WFS, commented: “AirBridgeCargo is an important and growing customer of WFS globally. Through multiple contracts in the US and Europe, we are consistently proving our ability to deliver the service excellence ABC demands for its customers, as well as our expertise in supporting the airline’s portfolio of special cargoes services, including for pharmaceuticals and oversized shipments.

Airbus SE is poised to begin taking orders for a freighter version of its A350 wide-body as soon as next month, in a challenge to Boeing Co.’s dominance in the market for dedicated cargo aircraft. The European planemaker has been speaking to more than a dozen potential customers and will seek board authorization to market the new plane in the coming weeks, provided it can line up enough commitments, according to people familiar with the matter. The program could officially launch by year-end, said the people, who sought anonymity discussing confidential matters. Going after a segment where Boeing has long held sway would mark a major strategic push for Airbus. Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury told Bloomberg News in April that he’s keen to challenge his U.S. rival and that the A350, a modern, lightweight plane with carbon-fiber wings and hull, would be “a strong candidate” for a freighter.

Cargo.one and Saudia Cargo say their recent partnership comes in light of rising demand for digital services. In mid-April, Saudia Cargo announced plans to add its capacity to the online booking portal as it continues with its digitalisation drive. The rollout is planned for June. Teddy Zebitz, chief cargo officer, Saudia Cargo said, “Overall, digitalisation is playing a vital role in the ecosystem. Everything from shipper to terminal to end user. Today digital solutions offer wide range of tools covering the needs of fast pace life and answer to rising expectation from our customers and partners. Our focus in utilising digitisation is to optimise our operation, provide seamless customer experience and strengthen the relation and help connect all global key players across the supply chain and have better alignment to optimize throughput and available capacity.”

Emirates SkyCargo has announced extension of its fully automated cool room with 94 airline pallet positions at its EU GDP certified dedicated pharma facility at Dubai International Airport, a move which will further strengthen the carrier’s temperature sensitive pharma and vaccine handling capabilities in Dubai. This extension of cool room will provide an additional 2600 square metres of temperature-controlled environment (2-25 degrees Celsius) for the storage and handling of pharma products including vaccines at Emirates SkyCargo’s purpose-built GDP certified facility. The new extension is capable of holding an estimated 60-90 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines at one time. Ever since the outbreak of the pandemic, the airline is playing a leading role in the international distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. It has transported over 75 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines on more than 250 flights to over 60 destinations since late 2020.

IATA has reported in its latest market analysis that air cargo volumes in April this year continued to outpace pre-Covid (2019) levels. The association said this was largely due to the strong performance of carriers based in North America, the Middle East and Africa. Global air cargo demand in April 2021, measured in cargo-tonne kms (CTKs), was reported as 12% higher than in April 2019 (used instead of last year for comparison purposes due to impact of Covid). It added: “This solid cargo growth performance this month was primarily driven by North American airlines, but all the regions outside Latin America contributed positively to the growth outcome.” Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general, commented: “Air cargo continues to be the good news story for the air transport sector. Some regions are outperforming the global trend, most notably carriers in North America, the Middle East and Africa. Strong air cargo performance, however, is not universal. The recovery for carriers in the Latin American region, for example, is stalled.”

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released April 2021 data for global air cargo markets showing that air cargo demand continued to outperform pre-COVID levels (April 2019) with demand up 12%. As comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19, unless otherwise noted, all comparisons to follow are to April 2019 which followed a normal demand pattern. Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), was up 12% compared to April 2019 and 7.8% compared to March 2021. Seasonally adjusted demand is now 5% higher than the pre-crisis August 2018 peak. The strong performance was led by North American carriers contributing 7.5 percentage points to the 12% growth rate in April. Airlines in all other regions except for Latin America also supported the growth. Capacity remains 9.7% below pre-COVID-19 levels (April 2019) due to the ongoing grounding of passenger aircraft. Airlines continue to use dedicated freighters to plug the lack of available belly capacity. International capacity from dedicated freighters rose 26.2% in April 2021 compared to the same month in 2019, while belly-cargo capacity dropped by 38.5%.

Air Cargo Forum India (ACFI) is launching a unique half-day virtual “Elementary Cargo Training Program (ECTP)” on Thursday, 10th June 2021 from 09:00 AM to 02:00 PM, on pan India basis. This initiative is first of its kind in the skilling programs happened so far in the air cargo industry. The ECTP course has been designed particularly for the ‘Base Level staff’ (blue collared) of air cargo industry, such as Loader, Helper, Packer, Equipment Operator etc. considering their important role while the EXIM cargo is being handled by them, about the operational aspects, knowledge on the equipment’s being handled by them with all the safety measures including health safety and security aspects while handling various types of cargo/special types of cargo, during their day-to-day routine work. The elaborate course material on ECTP has been developed by an elite group of trainers of ACFI Task Pillar on Skill Development, which will be imparted online during the period of COVID pandemic, first at Delhi on 10th June 2021 and then at the 5 ACFI Regional Chapters i.e. Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Delhi in Hindi/ English or in the regional or local languages of ACFI respective Chapters.