Global aviation services group Air Partner has expanded its office in Dubai as part of plans to double its workforce in the Middle East and grow its market share in the region. The office, located in Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai, offers Air Partner’s full suite of charter solutions, comprising group charter, private jets and cargo. Customers also have access to Air Partner’s 24-hour flight operations centre, which aims to ensure they have instant, year-round access to the group’s services and expertise. Air Partner said as the most recent data on global air cargo markets by IATA demonstrated the industry’s resilience amid economic uncertainties, Air Partner looks forward to growing its client base across its full suite of solutions as it continues to invest for growth in the Middle East. Mark Briffa, president of international charter and services at Air Partner, said: “We are delighted to have expanded our office in Dubai in line with our strategy to continue to grow our presence in the region. “We look forward to doubling our workforce in the Middle East over the next year, as we continue to support more customers with our extensive portfolio of services.”

IndiGo Cargo commenced operations of its first A321 Freighter aircraft between Delhi and Mumbai on November 15. A converted passenger jet will be used for general freight on the inaugural Delhi-Mumbai flight, while a return flight will carry both general freight and e-commerce cargo. According to a statement released by the airline, these inaugural flights will carry a payload of more than 20 tonnes on each leg. Following the arrival of its first 321F last month, IndiGo had all registrations completed. “Progressively this aircraft, and the next aircraft which is expected to arrive later this year, will be deployed on international routes too,” the statement added. Mahesh Malik, Chief Commercial Officer – CarGo, IndiGo said, “Delhi and Mumbai are the two biggest commercial hubs in the country, and the response we have received from customers for our service offering is very encouraging.”

Air Canada announced today that Bolloré Logistics has become the first Air Canada Cargo customer to join the Leave Less Travel Program, which offers corporate and cargo customers effective options to offset or reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to business travel or freight transportation, and reduce their carbon footprint. Bolloré Logistics has agreed to compensate a significant portion of its GHG emissions associated with its projected shipments w Air Canada announced that Bolloré Logistics has become the first Air Canada Cargo customer to join the Leave Less Travel Program, which offers corporate and cargo customers effective options to offset or reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to business travel or freight transportation, and reduce their carbon footprint. “We are very pleased to welcome Bolloré Logistics as our first cargo customer to participate in Air Canada’s Leave Less Travel Program. Addressing climate change in aviation requires a multifaceted approach, together with the united efforts of many stakeholders. The commitment of companies like Bolloré Logistics is a testament that environmentally-innovative business programs are mutually possible, further helping the aviation sector to build a long-term, sustainable industry,” said Jason Berry, Vice President, Cargo at Air Canada. “At a time when climate awareness is at the heart of the strategy of many companies, Bolloré Logistics is proud to join a program that is financing the future of low-carbon air industry. Through this initiative with our partner Air Canada, we contribute our scope 3 CO2 reduction targets and offer more sustainable transport solutions to our clients,” said Patrick Lafrance, Managing Director Canada at Bolloré Logistics.

Lufthansa Cargo has launched a pilot program in three European countries ahead of its plan to offer its capacity worldwide through the online platform CargoAi. As part of the pilot, users in the Netherlands, Italy and Spain will have access to routings and capacity information on all Lufthansa Group airlines serving those countries. The carrier said general and express cargo can now be booked on Lufthansa, Austrian, Brussels, Eurowings, or SunExpress. “This initial roll-out is a pilot that will run for the next two to three months, during which CargoAi and Lufthansa Cargo fine-tune their preparations for a global go-live, should the technical pilot run smoothly,” the announcement said. CargoAi noted that Lufthansa Cargo will benefit from an easy-to-use, customized e-booking system, allowing the carrier to optimize the efficiency of its forwarding process. It will also benefit from the promotion of its services to the more than 5,000 freight forwarders across 103 countries who regularly use CargoAi’s marketplace. “We are honoured that Lufthansa Cargo, one of Europe’s largest air cargo carriers, has chosen to market its capacities on our platform,” said Matthieu Petot, CEO of CargoAi.

Abu Dhabi Airports has joined Pharma.Aero as a strategic member representing the Middle East. Pharma.Aero is the global membership network for life science and medtech manufacturers, certified cargo communities and airport operators. The collaboration with Pharma.Aero builds on Abu Dhabi’s growth as a global healthcare and life sciences hub, and the success of the HOPE Consortium, an Abu Dhabi-led public private partnership committed to overcoming the challenges of vaccine distribution and logistics. Jamal Salem Al Dhaheri, managing director and chief executive of Abu Dhabi Airports said, “We are pleased to join Pharma.Aero as a strategic partner for the Middle East, representing the global cross-industry network of Life Science and MedTech air cargo industry stakeholders in the region. Along with Etihad Cargo, we look forward to collaborating with industry leaders to contribute to the overall development of the pharmaceutical supply chain.” Abu Dhabi Airports is set to pursue major air cargo infrastructure expansion projects with a strong focus on products capable of efficiently handling time and temperature-sensitive cargo, including those from within pharmaceuticals and life science.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has been awarded the project to build India’s first multimodal logistics park (MMLP) in Chennai by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). The project comes under the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP) launched in October 2021 and is aimed at improving multi-modal connectivity and last-mile connectivity across the country, according to a statement by the ministry. The estimated project cost is Rs. 1,424 crore. The total concession period is 45 years. The SPV will provide four-lane NH connectivity of 5.4 km with an estimated cost of Rs 104 crore and new rail siding to the MMLP site of a length of about 10.5 Km with an estimated cost of Rs 217 crore. “The MMLP will be developed in three phases with an estimated developer investment of Rs 783 crore Phase-1 development is targeted within two years i.e., by 2025 leading to commercial operations,” statement from the ministry added. The MMLP at Chennai which is strategically located at about 52 km from Chennai Port, 80 km from Ennore Port, and 87 km from Katupalli Airport will be a focal point of logistics in the southern region. It is estimated to cater to 7.17 Million Metric Tonne (MMT) cargo in a horizon period of 45 years. MoRTH is developing 35 MMLPs, out of which 15 are prioritised in the next three years.

Envirotainer has expanded its production site in Rosersberg, north of Stockholm. “This is in response to incredibly high demand for secure, temperature-controlled units to transport vital medicines around the globe. This year alone, the business will add annual shipping capacity of ~200 million more doses. By the end of 2022, Envirotainer will be capable of shipping over one billion vials per year,” said an official release. The site is the largest in the world in terms of output, able to build more units each year. It has also been designed to allow further expansion in the future, the release added. Envirotainer is the global market leader in secure cold chain solutions for shipment of pharmaceuticals. “The Envirotainer fleet covers more than 2,000 pharmaceutical trade lanes in over 100 countries and 300 airports. Its services help pharma companies meet the strictest requirements in pharmaceutical air freight and include the new Releye® RAP and RLP models, which are the largest and most advanced of their type on the market, combining high capacity with superior features,” the release added.

Alaska Air Cargo has partnered with Boeing to convert two 737-800 Freighters to add to its dedicated freighter fleet. “The conversion work will be done at Cooperativa Autogestionaria de Servicios Aeroindustriales (COOPESA) in Costa Rica. The two 737-800BCF aircraft will increase the Alaska Air Cargo freighter fleet from three to five aircraft that are dedicated to serving the state of Alaska,” said a release from Alaska Airlines. “Fleet expansion positions our growing cargo business to meet increased demand that we see from industry and consumers,” said Adam Drouhard, managing director, Alaska Air Cargo. He added, “The 737-800 aircraft provides 40 percent more load space than our current 737-700 freighters, essentially doubling Air Cargo’s total freighter lift capacity. We look forward to getting these 737-800s into service to support Alaska’s supply chain and connect cargo to over 100 cities we serve across North America.”

The last two panel discussions focused on the ‘Warehousing standards – Logistics Parks and Buildings’ and ‘Importance of Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in warehousing operations.’ The Vice President‭‬‬‬‬‬‬, WAI moderated the discussion while Mahendra Waghule- Head – Projects & Development, Horizon Industrial Parks, Anubhav Gupta- Chief Strategy Officer, APL Apollo Tubes, Parag Warerkar – CMD at MR Warerkar and Charter Member WAI Ejaz Nathani – VP & National Head, Welspun One, Parmeet Singh Bhalla – Managing Director, BGSB Concrete Solutions (P) Ltd and K Sampath Kumar -Senior Counsellor, CII IGBC participated as panelists. ‬ The concluding panel saw Shakti Choube – Asst. Vice President & Sales Head, Godrej Koerber Supply Chain, Umesh Madhyan – Vice President Supply Chain, Hindustan Coca-Cola, Sourabh Raghuvanshi – Vice President – Supply Chain & Sales, Lava IntI., Sandeep Chatterjee – Director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India and Shashank Jaiswal – Country General Manager, UNL Global India as panelists while Vasu Ramanujam – Founder Member, WAI performed the job of a moderator emphasizing strongly on the relevance of advanced technologies in today’s times. Lot of stress was given on customer centricity, systems required for accurate demand fulfillment future projections. Vote of Thanks was given by Mohit K Kapoor, Chair- Events Committee, WAI, The event concluded on a positive note, providing a great platform to the industry stakeholders to unite, collaborate and discuss growth strategies to move forward to achieve the common goal – Growth. ‬

The discussion commenced with a speech by Dr SK Ahirwar, Joint Secretary, Logistics & Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. He threw light on the current scenario of the Indian warehousing sector, while highlighting the ongoing developments and investments, NLP – its potential benefits, and other government initiatives in pipeline. The panel discussion on ‘Equipment standards – Storage systems and Material Handling Equipment’ focused on the standardization of the various pieces of Infra required for smooth running of a warehouse. It was moderated by the President who has over 25 years of experience across Supply Chain, Logistics, Freight forwarding, NVOCC operations, Technology, KPO, and Engineering industries. The panelists included Joint Secretary, Logistics & Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, GoI, Chetan Kumria – Managing Director, Xcell Supply Chain, Vikas Choudaha – Sr. Vice President & Business Head, Godrej Storage Solutions, Mohan – Director, Armes Maini Storage Systems Pvt. Ltd., and Founder Member WAI, Umesh Madhyan – Vice President Supply Chain, Hindustan Coca-Cola, Narendra Patidar, VE Commercial Vehicles, including a presentation by Vikas Choudaha – Sr. Vice President & Business Head at Godrej Storage Solutions