Category Archives: Aviation

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released October 2021 data for global air cargo markets showing that demand continued to be well above pre-crisis levels and that the capacity constraints have eased slightly. “October data reflected an overall positive outlook for air cargo. Supply chain congestion continued to push manufacturers towards the speed of air cargo. Demand was up 9.4% in October compared to pre-crisis levels. And capacity constraints were slowly resolving as more passenger travel meant more belly capacity for air cargo. The impact of government reactions to the Omicron variant is a concern. If it dampens travel demand, capacity issues will become more acute. After almost two years of COVID-19, governments have the experience and tools to make better data-driven decisions than the mostly knee-jerk reactions to restrict travel that we have seen to date. Restrictions will not stop the spread of Omicron. Along with urgently reversing these policy mistakes, the focus of governments should be squarely on ensuring the integrity of supply chains and increasing the distribution of vaccines,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.

While the congestion at several airports, notably Amsterdam and Chicago O’Hare, has eased, handlers claim one of the biggest issues is lack of freight movements between Friday and Monday. “We are experiencing cargo not being picked up by forwarders – that’s a sweeping statement, but in general, dwell times are increasing,” said Robert Fordree, head of cargo for Menzies. “Forwarders are struggling to get drivers, and their warehouses are full too. We have looked at increasing storage charges, but it’s really a logjam everywhere, and wouldn’t change anything.” Another handler said it had set up its own operations to deliver freight direct to forwarders, but added: “But then, there is no space at their end. Forwarders are congested too. We doubled our storage charges, and then did it again, but still no one picked up the freight. It’s caused congestion in our warehouses and it’s been chaos.” Forwarders can also expect to see a rise in terminal handling charges (THCs) next year.

DB Schenker announced the extension of its partnership with Atlas Air for charter flights on the transpacific route. The flights which are part of the forwarder’s global flight network, which was launched in 2020, will receive dedicated capacity on multiple flights each week by Atlas. “We are excited to extend our current partnership with Atlas Air on our transpacific charter operations. The timely and reliable operation of Atlas Air fits perfectly into our commitment to provide our customers a reliable service for air transportation in their supply chain.” said Björn Eckbauer, senior vice president, global operations and procurement airfreight, DB Schenker. When the forwarder launched its “global flight operations program” in 2020, the service-connected Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, and Hong Kong to Chicago and Frankfurt ten times a week with exclusive full charter flights.

With the exponential rise in e-commerce activity, GEODIS is offering brands a new level of end-to-end logistics support ‘GEODIS e-Logistics’ to help them offer their customers the same buying experience online as they do in-store. For this, GEODIS relies on its network of e-commerce warehouses and transportation service at locations worldwide, and on its new digital platform for the processing of orders in real time. “The current crisis has benefited e-Commerce, a fundamental sales channel that is experiencing profound accelerated growth, from France to China via the United States. Responding to this new consumer demand requires brands to be able to orchestrate both orders and inventories, while overcoming major logistical obstacles. This is why ‘GEODIS e-Logistics’ has been developed. This new offering, based on the power of digital technology, is aimed at strengthening brand autonomy”, explains Marie-Christine Lombard, chief executive officer of GEODIS.

Brussels Airport launched Stargate project, receiving a grant within the European Green deal. In the next five years, Brussels Airport will be working with a consortium of 21 partners on some 30 concrete projects to make aviation and airports greener and more sustainable. Stargate includes building a biofuel blending installation at the airport, electric ground handling material and testing a new innovation that will make engine test runs much quieter. At the end of 2020, following a call of the European Commission, Brussels Airport took the initiative to submit an ambitious programme (“Stargate”) together with 21 partners, including three European airports, airlines, mobility and knowledge institutes and local authorities, to develop innovations and initiatives for an accelerated transition to greener aviation. Brussels Airport’s Stargate project was selected and has received a 24.8 million euros grant within the European Green Deal to implement these projects in the coming years.

Air Charter Service (ACS) recorded its busiest quarter for the cargo division with 1,445 charters in the third quarter of August-October 2021 (the financial year for ACS runs February-January). Along with other divisions, ACS reported its highest revenue in a single quarter of £321.1 million ($430 million) as against £212 million ($282 million) in Q2. “The incredible increase in revenue was, of course, in part due to the current supply chain crisis,” said founder and chairman Chris Leach. “Firstly, revenues have increased due to demand becoming more long haul on larger aircraft which, naturally, are more expensive. The majority of this demand has been from Asia, which has seen an especially significant reduction in belly capacity due to travel restrictions in the region, meaning charter options have also been extremely limited. Our speciality in finding these solutions, along with our strong presence in Asia, has meant that we have been able to find solutions that others simply haven’t.”

With holiday season approaching and a shift from ocean transport to air happening, the cost of air shipments has been on a steady rise. As per the Baltic Exchange Airfreight Index (BAI), last week’s prices on freight services from Hong Kong to North America had reached USD 11.22 per kg, almost 23% higher than that in the starting of October and highest ever on the BAI. Similarly, fright travelling from Hong Kong to Europe is USD 7.80 per kg which is also relatively inflated. On the other hand, the Freightos Air Freight Index revealed the airfreight rates from Asia/China to West Coast of US reached USD 14.22 per kg and those for East Coast of US reached USD 12.76 per kg. In its weekly market wrap up, Freightos said that with the holidays nearing and ocean delays pushing some shipments to air, peak season air cargo rates have continued to climb

Freighter airline MENA Cargo has partnered with Awery Aviation Software to streamline operations on its scheduled and charter services across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The Bahrain-headquartered MENA Cargo will use Awery’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) product, as well as its CargoBooking tool. Awery ERP is a web-based, customisable platform, which MENA Cargo will initially use for flight and crew operations and charter sales management. The CargoBooking tool delivers instant quotes, manages bookings, and has full Application Programming Interface (API) integration. Awery and MENA signed the deal at the Dubai Air Show in the UAE last week, and MENA will be rolling out Awery solutions over coming months. Said Peter Hewett, general manager at MENA Cargo: “In creating a lean and efficient cargo airline with SMART technology at its core, it makes sense for us to collaborate with leading global suppliers of customisable aviation software. We believe that this partnership with Awery, who have the same mindset in business adaptability, will enable the realisation of our strategy to quickly scale, while remaining flexible in our operations and agile in our approach.”

Cathay Pacific Cargo rolled out its latest digital innovation, Click & Ship, an online booking platform that offers registered customers “an intuitive, always-on booking interface”. Said Tom Owen, director cargo: “Our customers have been telling us that they want a quicker and more efficient way to book shipments at any time. “We listened. We’re rolling out Click & Ship progressively across our network and we aim to make real-time flight schedules, space availability, allotments, and updated rate information available on cathaypacificcargo.com and ezycargo.com for all Cathay Pacific Cargo customers over the next year.” Users will be able to book through an easy, three-step process whenever they like, said a Cathay Pacific Cargo spokesperson – with most bookings “confirmed on the spot”. It also gives visibility of pricing and space availability to defined routes 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The global roll-out is being led by the South West Pacific region, where customers have been trialling the technology ahead of a wider introduction.

dnata has signed a concession agreement with The Government of Zanzibar, along with Emirates Leisure Retail and SEGAP, a joint venture between airport infrastructure and operations specialists Egis, and private equity fund manager AIIM. dnata will oversee the operations of Zanzibar Abeid Amani Karume International Airport’s (ZNZ) newly-built international terminal (T3), with SEGAP supporting the Zanzibar Airports Authority (ZAA) in a management capacity. Emirates Leisure Retail will partner with MMI as master concessionaire for all food and beverage, duty-free and commercial outlets at T3. dnata’s expansion into Zanzibar represents an investment of over US$ 7 million and will create up to 400 direct local jobs with the company. dnata will provide its globally renowned, quality ground and passenger handling services to airline customers at ZNZ, ensuring safe and timely operations of flights and an excellent travel experience for passengers. dnata expects to handle over 4,000 flights annually at the airport.