Category Archives: Aviation

With its commitment to help improve the supply chain and ensure timely medical provisions, Blue Dart is ramping up its infrastructure with its pre-existing specialised Temperature Controlled Logistics (TCL) to combat the pandemic. The company will further offer complete supply chain solution for the Life Sciences and Clinical Trials Sector and reefer vehicles (cold chain) services to the vaccine sector to ensure seamless transport of shipments. As the development of the COVID-19 vaccine leapfrogs across development phases, stringent temperature requirements (up to – 80°C) will be a critical factor for its transportation and warehousing at every stage. An efficient and specialised logistics network will be a prerequisite, to ensure safe and rapid delivery of billions of Covid-19 vaccine doses for mass immunisation, and other temperature sensitive pharma products on a national & global scale. Blue Dart has successfully tailored its existing Temperature Controlled Logistics solution to transport critical shipments such as vaccines, medical samples and more. The TCL teams work with three industry specific segments: Clinical Research Organization (CRO), Vaccine/Testing Kit manufactures and Active Pharma Ingredient for swift and safe delivery of shipments. As per research on Blue Dart’s consumer feedback, conducted through Net Promoter Approach methodology, Blue Dart successfully scored a Net Promoter Score(NPS) of 100% for its TCL solutions, even higher than its other services which has an enviable NPS of 99.6%. Ketan Kulkarni, CMO & Head – Business Development, Blue Dart, said “The right partnerships are vital to secure critical medical supplies during health emergencies. We are actively working with various pharmaceutical organizations that are conducting clinical trials to produce a Covid-19 vaccine in India in their pre and post production journey. As a part of the …

Alitalia Airlines has successfully uplifted 53626 kilos on a single flight from Delhi (DEL) to Rome (FCO). The airline has been operating its weekly all-cargo flights (P2C) from India since June 2020.The aircraft had an optimum mix of high density cargo along with pharmaceuticals, DG cargo, auto parts & garments which helped in achieving the desired result. The ULD planning was carefully monitored for maximum utilisation of space on the newly cargo only reconfigured aircraft. Commenting on the achievement, Antonio Temporini, VP – Cargo, Alitalia, says “The milestone reflects our commitment towards customers during these challenging times. With reduced flight schedules due to COVID-19, it’s now of paramount importance to maximize every cargo space. India is a very important market for Alitalia Cargo-worldwide network and having Air Logistics Group as our partners in India, we are sure to enhance our services from all key ports in the country.” Sakshi Gupta, Country Manager, Air Logistics Group (ALG), says “The pandemic has created and set new goals and benchmarks for all stakeholders. As the supply and demand soars, air cargo has come forth to become a robust saviour for the aviation industry and finally everyone has realised that cargo is not just a filler but a very strategic and core part of the industry.” “During these pandemic times when airlines are struggling to stabilise flight operations, Alitalia Cargo with scheduled p2c weekly flights from Delhi and Mumbai are strongly supporting the cargo demand for the EU & USA with great efficiency and dedication. We shall continue to do so with all support from our business partners,” comments Annu Rai, Manager Key Accounts, Alitalia Cargo. The airline has been expanding its cargo capacity …

In response to the rapidly growing demand for cargo charters National Airlines would add three more B747-400Fs to its existing fleet of two of the aircraft. The airline had acquired three B-747-400Fs two years back and because of the declining demand for airfreight all of them had been parked in Arizona. Following maintenance checks, the first of the three aircraft was put into service in September, with another due to join in October and the third in November. Chris Alf, Chairman, National Airline, said, “We always had a plan of bringing out the parked airplanes into service right at the beginning of the year but then the Covid-19 pandemic hit. We felt the urgency to bring on these aircraft to support the demand for moving the urgent relief supplies in support of governments and global aid agencies. It was strategically important for us to bring in additional cargo capacity since there is a huge constraint because of the pandemic taking away the belly capacity on passenger operations. We are happy to offer our global customers with an additional three B747-400Fs.” Rates certainly remain higher than this time last year with prices from Hong Kong to North America up by more than 50% year on year to an average of $5.26 per kg in September, according to TAC Index data.

Commenting on the readiness of logistics industry to handle the transportation of COVID-19 vaccine, Satish Lakkaraju, Chief Commercial Officer, Agility Global Integrated Logistics, says “India has been in the business of exporting pharmaceuticals from last so many years. All the airports in India have pharma facilities; Delhi & Mumbai have pharma centres and Mumbai has also upgraded its facility, Hyderabad always had a pharma centre, Bengaluru has a ‘Coolport’. It now depends on where the vaccine comes. India is more than ready for the export; domestically if the need comes in there will be more upgradations to be done. However, we are ready and we have made investments in terms of upgrading the warehouses.”

In order to handle cargo operations, Vijayawada airport will soon have a designated building spanning 2,500 square metres along with cold storage facility. The domestic cargo facility was launched at the old terminal building in June 2018 and the services commenced in August and about 40 tonnes of cargo is handled per day. Estimates in this regard are under final stages and tenders will be invited shortly. Shreepa Logistics, a private firm, was given the contract to serve as the facility’s logistics partner. The airport authorities have mooted the idea of a designated building for cargo operations along with cold storage facility, considering the airport’s potential for handling special cargo flights operated by the IAF and Air India from New Delhi carrying emergency medical supplies, including PPE, N95 masks and sanitisers, during COVID-19. “We submitted representations to the AAI officials and they have prepared proposals for a designated building to handle cargo operations and a cold storage facility for preserving perishable goods,” says, Potluri Bhaskar Rao, General Secretary, Andhra Pradesh Chambers

Emphasising on working towards an atmanirbhar logistics vertical, Anamika Sinha, Chairperson, SCLA, says, “The EXIM interest of private sector and their respective futuristic disposition along with logistics streamlining will surely help achieve the bigger picture down to the level-zero in complete sync with the state and government agenda. In view of same, the Project NorthEast (NE) has been an endeavoured at SCLA and is progressive since last couple of months.” Jaideep Raha, President – NorthEast, SCLA and Webinar Session Moderator, emphasised the potential for new business opportunities in the NE which can boost the GDP growth and presented a detailed, insightful presentation on the resources and development in NER. He made a insisting and assuring request to the concerned ministries to provide for the necessary infrastructure and the logistics team united under SCLA would come forward to ensure successful implementation and would be pleased to contribute to NER business growth. The Guest of Honour for the event were H K Sharma, IAS, Secretary, Dept of Industries Government of Sikkim, Hage Tari, IAS, Secretary, Industrial Trade & Communication Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Government of AR, K K Dwivedi, IAS, Secretary Industries, Government of Assam, N. Sivasailam, IAS, Immediate Past Spl Secretary Logistics, Patron, SCLA, Vandana Agarwal, IES, Sr. Economic Advisor, MoCA, Shashi Bhushan Shukla, IRS Member Traffic & Logistics, IWAI, Kabir Ahmed, President, BAFFA, Aparajita Banerjee, Advisory Board Member (EAST and NE India) ANZ India Business Chamber; all the eminent speakers of respective region talked about their region initiatives and new business opportunities. Dwivedi shared the initiatives by the government on building trilateral highways connecting India, Myanmar and Thailand and trade movement through waterways via Brahmaputra River from India to Chattogram …

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the global air freight markets’ improvement remains slow amid insufficient capacity in August. Asia-Pacific airlines saw demand for international air cargo fall 18.3% in August 2020 compared to the same period a year earlier. After a robust initial recovery in May, month-on-month growth in seasonally-adjusted demand declined for the second consecutive month. International capacity is particularly constrained in the region, down 35%. Demand moved slightly in a positive direction month-on-month; however, levels remain depressed compared to 2019. Improvement continues at a slower pace than some of the traditional leading indicators would suggest. This is due to the capacity constraint from the loss of available belly cargo space as passenger aircraft remain parked. Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), was 12.6% below previous-year levels in August (-14% for international operations). That is a modest improvement from the 14.4% year-on-year drop recorded in July. Seasonally-adjusted demand grew by 1.1% month-on-month in August. Global capacity, measured in available cargo tonne-kilometers (ACTKs), shrank by 29.4% in August ( 31.6% for international operations) compared to the previous year. This is basically unchanged from the 31.8% year-on-year drop in July. Belly capacity for international air cargo was 67% below the levels of August 2019 owing to the withdrawal of passenger services amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This was partially offset by a 28.1% increase in dedicated freighter capacity. Daily widebody freighter utilization is close to 11 hours per day, the highest levels since these figures have been tracked in 2012. Economic activity continued to recover in August reflected, among other things, in the performance of the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) indicator of economic health in the manufacturing sector. …

Strengthening its pharmaceutical logistics expertise, Etihad Cargo has launched PharmaLife, a specialised pharma and healthcare product which replaces the carrier’s TempCheck product. The dedicated product aims to move the anticipated global demand for Covid-19 vaccine. It will available at 54 stations on the Etihad network and will focus on key gateways including Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Chicago, Paris, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hyderabad, London, Milan, Melbourne, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney. Andre Blech, Head – Operations & Service Delivery, Etihad Cargo, said, “The pandemic prompted a reassessment of our top-level services to ensure we can address the specific requirements for shipping high volumes of in-demand product in very short timescales. To avoid last-minute pressure once a vaccine is approved, we have established a dedicated Covid-19 vaccines workforce composed of a steering committee and a working group to manage all anticipated elements.” “Our intention is to continuously expand our Pharma trade lanes, which requires collaboration with industry partners. By working with equipment suppliers, general handling agents, and associations, we can share knowledge and build trust across the industry that will result in the highest quality industry standard for sustainable quality that our customers deserve,” he said. “A core part of this is through working with our GHAs to offer cool dollies or thermo trucks for key destinations; dependent upon viability, we could look into an advanced lease model for this kind of equipment as currently, due to tarmac constraints, cool dollies and thermo trucks are quite rare and expensive,” added Blech.

AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) has completed the transportation of 12 SkyCell containers from Hong Kong (China) to Amsterdam (Netherlands). The transportation was organised in partnership with UPS Healthcare with the SkyCell 1500C containers shipped from Europe to Asia in pre-conditioned mode. Once they arrived in Hong Kong, they were loaded with vaccines to be flown back under temperature range 2-8°C. According to the ABC Airline, the SkyCell 1500C containers, weighing more than 10,500 kg, occupied six lower forward deck positions and approached an almost maximum possible number of containers per section, which is 14. “We are now analysing and mapping out all possible scenarios for vaccine transportation, even using technical capabilities of An-124-100 and Il-76TD-90VD,” said Yulia Celetaria, Pharma Director, AirBridgeCargo Airlines. ABC has transported over 40,000 tons of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals for the first seven months of 2020 which is more than 150% up compared to the same period of 2019.

In order to conduct a feasibility study for a proposed Hyperloop corridor from Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), Virgin Hyperloop and BIAL signed a first-of-its-kind Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU was exchanged virtually between Sultan bin Sulayem, Chairman of Virgin Hyperloop and DP World, and T.M. Vijay Bhaskar, IAS, Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka and Chairman of the Board of Directors, BIAL in the presence of Kapil Mohan, IAS, Principal Secretary, Infrastructure Development Department, Government of Karnataka. “We are honored to partner with Bangalore International Airport Limited to explore ways in which hyperloop can become a part of the solution to tackle congestion and support economic growth in Bengaluru” said Sulayem. “Beyond just the transit of passengers, airports are crucial conduit for goods, especially time-sensitive deliveries. A hyperloop-connected airport would dramatically improve the delivery of cargo and create an ultra-efficient supply chain,” he adds. BIAL aims to make BLR Airport a transportation hub that connects people and places together through various modes of transport. In addition to its well-established road network, BLR Airport will soon be connected with the sub-urban railway in few weeks and have Metro connectivity in four years.