Category Archives: Aviation

FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and the world’s largest express transportation company, has announced it will donate $50,000 USD each to sustainability-focused projects in India and Africa. As part of the FedEx Priority Earth Global Grant Program, thousands of FedEx team members selected 12 nonprofits from across the six international regions in which FedEx operates. Each be awarded a $50,000 USD grant, for a total FedEx investment of $600,000 USD toward green solutions: “FedEx has set ambitious goals to reduce our footprint where we have the greatest environmental impact. Working alongside nonprofits and investing in their efforts is a critical part of the company’s strategy to drive the action and innovation needed to make a difference in our world,” said Jack Muhs, regional president for the Middle East, Indian subcontinent and Africa.

Tasman Cargo Airlines has launched a new freighter service between Changi Airport and Australia, becoming the first freighter operator based in the country to offer services to the Singapore hub. The five-times-per-week services utilisises a B767-300 freighter and operates on a loop of Melbourne-Darwin-Singapore (bi-directional). The flight is chartered by DHL Express and will carry cross-border e-commerce volumes from across the express firm’s global and Southwest Pacific network. Sean Wall, executive vice president, network operations & aviation, DHL Express Asia Pacific, said: “Australia is growing as an important market for DHL as local businesses continue to adapt, innovate and adopt e-commerce practices for their business needs. “To cope with rising shipment volume and ensure we continue to provide timely deliveries to our customers, we have swiftly responded by adding flights connecting Australia to the rest of the world.”

Menzies Aviation’s cargo operations in Sydney have received the Center of Excellence of Independent Validators for Pharmaceutical Logistics accreditation (“CEIV Pharma”) from IATA. Menzies Cargo Sydney is the first handling agent in the Oceania region to achieve CEIV Pharma accreditation, the company said. The company added that its Sydney operation had been working towards the certification for more than two years. Alistair Reid, executive vice president, Oceania at Menzies Aviation said: “It has been a very thorough and rewarding process for our team in Sydney who have spent almost two years working to understand the criteria, develop processes, invest in infrastructure and train the staff which resulted in us being able to be assessed and validated for the CEIV Pharma accreditation.”

Lufthansa Cargo which is in the midst of fleet renewal has ordered another production Boeing 777F, a 103 tonne capacity freighter aircraft, to increase its capacity. The freighter will be delivered by the end of the year and when delivered will be the airline’s eleventh of the model, the airline informed. The aircraft announced by the airline in March is to be stationed at Frankfurt after its arrival in autumn 2021. While the airline is adding freighters and securing its cargo capacity, on the passenger front it has announced non-stop flights between Germany and India, making the travel more seamless. Adds Dorothea Von Boxberg, CEO, Lufthansa Cargo, “We are very pleased that we will be able to offer our customers additional freighter capacity in the future. Another brand-new Boeing 777F aircraft is being added to Lufthansa Cargo‘s highly efficient freighter fleet. Delivery of the aircraft is expected before the end of this year. A total of fifteen full-freighters will then be in service for Lufthansa Cargo’s customers. The Corona crisis has impressively underlined how important these aircraft are for global supply.”

DHL Global Forwarding is joining United Airlines sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) programme as it continues to ramp up its green strategy. The world’s largest airfreight forwarder said that as part of United’s Eco-Skies Alliance programme it will contribute towards the purchase of 3.4m gallons of SAF this year. The reductions in carbon footprint are then allocated by DHL to its customers. DHL Global Forwarding, Freight chief executive Tim Scharwath said: “Through this partnership we will be able to show how a market mechanism for SAF can help airlines, freight forwarders, and shippers work together to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon, ultimately zero carbon emissions transport sector.” The forwarder also plans to launch a ‘book and claim’ system to enable customers to ramp up their use of SAF and be allocated SAF certificates to validate the corresponding reduction in their carbon footprint. Christoph Wolff, head of shaping the future of mobility, World Economic Forum, said: “The ‘book and claim’ mechanism is an essential element of SAF certificates. We need frontrunners like Demand Signal group participants United Airlines and DHL Global Forwarding to put concepts into practice so that it can be validated and turned into a formal standard.”

Spicejet becomes first scheduled airline to promote cargo from smaller airports across India. In its pioneering initiative, Spicejet shipped 965 kgs of Litchis from Darbhanga to Mumbai as a part of regional connectivity scheme. Farmers can benefit greatly from this initiative and ship highly perishable Litchis to the major consumption centres in India with ease. Spicejet can also provide additional capacity by deploying its q-400 aircraft, if required. On the occasion, Hardeep Puri, Minister for Civil Aviation said, “As part of Krishi Udan Scheme, fresh Litchis were loaded on a flight to Mumbai from Darbhanga Airport in the Mithila region.” Spicejet has been actively involved in the transportation of goods since the pandemic. Commenting on the successful transportation, Usha Padee, Joint Secretary, Civil Aviation said, “Happy to see the expected outcomes. #UDAN has played a positive role in boosting the local economy. Darbanga is a successful example.”

Cathay Pacific Cargo has made a further contribution to pandemic relief efforts in India with an airlift of 300,000 COVID-19 testing kits, which were a gift from the State of Oregon. The shipment departed Portland for Mumbai via Hong Kong on one of Cathay Pacific Cargo’s Boeing 747 freighters. Cathay Pacific Cargo, forwarder Expeditors and logistics company Davis Trucking partnered with the Oregon Health Authority and Department of Administrative Services, offering their services free of charge for the shipment. Cathay Pacific’s Regional General Manager, South Asia, Middle East and Africa, Mark Sutch said: “I would like to thank our team in the Americas and our local partners for organising this shipment. As one of the leading cargo providers operating into India, we stand united with citizens of the country and further our efforts in bringing essential humanitarian and medical aid to India. ”

DHL Express is launching a new airline in Europe and focusing its UK carrier on international operations through the addition of B777Fs. The express giant plans to launch a new cargo airline based in Austria and is in the process of filing applications with the Austrian authorities. The Austrian airline, which DHL hopes to launch later this year, will operate using Boeing 757 freighter aircraft transferred over from its DHL Air UK business. DHL said the move comes in response to growing e-commerce demand, with first quarter 2021 Time Definite International shipments (TDI) increasing by more than 25% compared with a year earlier. “To respond to this growth and to continue offering its customers fastest transit times for their cross-border deliveries, DHL Express is remodeling its East Midlands based airline, DHL Air UK,” the company explained in a press release. Tom Mackle, managing director at DHL Air UK, said: “The UK has always been a crucial gateway to the world. With an increasing demand in international time definite deliveries this is today more valid than ever.”

Contienental Carriers created history by bring two frieghter charters with covid essential materials to Delhi and Kolkata with a span of two hours. Contienental carriers have been actively helping in transportation of other essential items such as oxygen concentrators from Agra to Moolchand hospital in Delhi. The company successfully chartered the two frieghters to transport 190 Euro pallets, weighing 109 tonnes of ‘Zeolite’, an essential component in Oxygen generation from the suppliers’ factory in South of Italy to Delhi. Upon arrival, Contienental Carriere seamlessly cleared the shipment within 20 minutes from the customs. In a similar way, Ilyusin IL-76 charter freighter uplifted 3 – ISO Oxygen tanks from Titanjin (China) to Kolkata, India. on the same day

As part of its preparations against a probable third wave of Covid-19, Delhi government has imported 6,000 oxygen cylinders from China. These cylinders will be stored at three depots and used in case of a third wave of coronavirus, said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday. “Around 6,000 oxygen cylinders have been airlifted from China, of which we have received 4,400. The remaining 1,600 will arrive within two to three days,” he told reporters. The chief minister thanked the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Beijing for the assistance in importing the oxygen cylinders. These can be given to people in need and can be used to create additional oxygen beds at hospitals, he said.“In case of a third wave, these cylinders can be utilised to prepare 3,000 oxygen beds. Perhaps, this is the largest such consignment brought to India since the pandemic began,” he said. He said HCL and Give India Foundation donated for this purpose.