Category Archives: Aviation

To double the airline’s freighter fleet, Saudi Arabian flag carrier, Saudia Cargo has selected start-up aviation engineering firm Mammoth Freighters to get seven passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversions of the Boeing 777-300. “This development and investment is the latest example of industry confidence in air cargo’s growth potential during the next 20 years and its interest in a new long-haul product that can replace large 747 and MD-11 cargo jets,” confirms an official release. Initial P2F conversions will take place at Mammoth Freighter’s new overhaul facility in Texas. Jeddah based maintenance and repair organization, Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries (SAEI), would use Mammoth’s design to convert additional aircraft under the deal, the release read.

The Colombian cargo airline, Avianca Cargo and Jettainer have signed a five-year agreement for carrier’s pallet management and maintenance services. As per the contract, the Bogota headquartered airline will receive different pallet types from Jettainer to cater to the needs of its growing fleet. “With 200 freighter flights per week, Avianca Cargo serves 65 destinations in the Americas and Europe. It specializes in transporting cut flowers from Latin America to North America. Jettainer will provide Avianca Cargo with all required pallets necessary for its fleet. The global ULD leader will completely manage, maintain, and repair all units with a dedicated team out of Dallas, Texas,” a company release said.

ECS Group’s subsidiary, Globe Air Cargo (GAC) Korea has been chosen as the Cargo General Sales Agency Agreement (GSA) to Korea’s hybrid carrier Air Premia, in its home market. In accordance with the signed GSA, GAC Korea fulfils daily operational duties for Air Premia, which include cargo sales, reservations, and ensuring the handling of regular and full charter flights, said an official release. H.E. Shin, CEO of Globe Air Cargo Korea, said in an official statement, “GAC Korea and Air Premia truly act as one team, since we have been there from the start of its inaugural passenger to cargo (P2C) flight out of Seoul to Singapore on 24 December 2021. We are proud to have the opportunity to support Air Premia at its homebase, as its first GSA since the airline was established in 2017 and we look forward to driving Air Premia’s success as it expands its network.”

With the recent announcement of Global Air Cargo branch opening in Seoul, Korea, ECS Group continuing with its expansion in Asia. “The newest branch of ECS Group GSSA subsidiary GAC is a strategic milestone in the Group’s network expansion plans which see the Far East, particularly China, Korea, and Japan, as having the greatest dynamic potential,” said an official statement. Adrien Thominet, Executive Chairman, ECS Group said, “ECS Group pledges to offer the strongest Asian network with unlimited connections. Korea was missing from our extensive network. The first six months of operation have already shown that a local presence on the Korean market is highly welcomed, and we look forward to seeing GAC Korea grow its business in this well-yielding and promising market.”

SmartKargo, cloud-based air cargo solutions provider has joined Cargo iQ, a cross-stakeholder organization. SmartKargo offers a suite of scalable applications, including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), a booking portal, and its end-to-end e-commerce shipping solution for global airlines. SmartKargo has joined Cargo iQ is to bring key quality enhancements to the air cargo industry. Milind Tavshikar, CEO, SmartKargo said, “Establishing t quality management standards requires transparency and collaboration among supply chain partners who bring a variety of perspectives to the conversation. We joined Cargo iQ to bring our unique experience to this important interest group and look forward to contributing as well as being inspired by our industry colleagues. Together, we can ensure that standards of quality management evolve steadily in this industry that is so important to the world.”

The Air Charter Association (ACA) announces Challenge Group as its new member to cater to the companies and individuals engaged in aircraft charter. Challenge Group is committed to co-constructing and sharing its values with new communities. The aim is to enhance each other and build the future of the air cargo industry. Or Zak, Vice President Commercial of Challenge Group said, “The association is one of the oldest and most respected air freight related associations globally. The Challenge Group is honoured to be accepted as a member by this association, and we are looking forward to work alongside other members and partners in shaping the future of the air freight industry in general and that of the Global Charter in particular.”

To enable a seamless payment experience, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), in partnership with Kotak Mahindra Bank and Phi Commerce, has introduced omnichannel payment solution across the airport ecosystem. The omnichannel payment solution, designed for the airport in partnership with payment solutions company Phi Commerce and KMBL, will enable a safe and secure payment experience across the airport, as per an official statement. The solution will power B2B and B2C payments across channels – both online and offline. It will facilitate transactions across the domestic terminal, international terminal, airport city, concert arena, airport hotels, retail, recreation, dining, and entertainment (RDE) destination, airport parking, cargo, and BIAL subsidiaries.

Global tech service provider, Capgemini has been selected by the Airbus to deliver a cloud-first transformation programme for its commercial aircraft and helicopters businesses worldwide. Capgemini will now help Airbus with a fully managed service of the core cloud infrastructure for its business. “Capgemini will drive transformation of existing services through unification and modernization, managing both private and public clouds as well as legacy infrastructure, along with infrastructure management, to achieve the flexibility needed to meet any future needs of Airbus commercial aircraft and helicopters,” according to the company’s statement. “The hybrid cloud transformation programme will accelerate new functionalities through advanced releases in Airbus’ IT systems, while contributing to innovation at scale to support Airbus’ production activities and supply chains,” the statement read.

While addressing the Air Cargo Forum India (ACFI) Annual Event in New Delhi on Tuesday, titled as, ‘10 million: Vision 2030, Stimulating, Scaling and Steering Air Cargo,’ the Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, said, “The growth potential for air cargo in India is tremendous. Today, we are close to 3.1 million metric tonnes, and we have set this highly ambitious target to reach 10 million metric tonnes by 2030. This is possible only if we put the right strategies in place – use both widebody aircraft and smaller aircraft to move cargo from tier 2 and tier 3 cities, develop a hub and spoke arrangement and build transhipment hubs across India then it is certain that India will emerge as a global cargo player.” The minister also added that the industry needs to be ready to accept the changes that are going to come in the industry in the coming years and the industry should also be ready to be able to cater to the market demand that needs to be looked in.” Other dignitaries who also graced the occasion included Piyush Srivastava, Senior Economic Advisor – Ministry of Civil Aviation, Yashpal Sharma, MD, Skyways, Cyrus Katgara, Partner Jeena and Company and President, ACFI, Sanjiv Edward, CCO, DIAL, Kamesh Peri, CEO, Celebi Aviation Holding amongst others.

Jeena & Company won the Excellence in Supply Chain Management & Logistics Award at the recently held India Cargo Awards, the country’s topmost supply chain awards which helps create a platform to recognise those behind the success of the cargo and logistics industry. Amrit Lal Meena, Special Secretary (Logistics), Union Department of Commerce and Piyush Srivastava, Senior Economic Advisor, Union Ministry of Civil Aviation presented the award. Cyrus Katgara, Partner, Jeena & Company said, “It is great to be honoured at the India Cargo Awards, an offline event happening after gap of two years. Our biggest learning during the pandemic has been digitization of business processes and going paperless. Digitization will now be an essential if not crucial means of doing business, and accordingly, we have put all our digital technology-related projects on the fast track mode.”