Category Archives: Aviation

Even as the world is fighting a battle with the pandemic, the impact of the Russian-Ukraine war has hit logistics and cargo like a Damocles sword. The conflict has made commercial shipping through sea routes in Russia and Ukraine suicidal. Most ports in the region are closed and commercial ships are not accepting orders from Russia or making port calls. As per a statement, Container xChange, premier container leasing and trading marketplace, stated, “Due to disruption to commercial shipping on the sea lanes, we expect container build-ups at ports to exacerbate at storage areas in the region. The closure of airspace across Russia and Europe has reduced air freight capacity.” It added, “Maritime trade with Russia and businesses could be difficult in the near future. On Monday, the UK has banned all Russian ships from entering its ports. What’s more, the EU intercepted and seized one ship. On the Asia-Europe trade, we see more demand for maritime shipments and equipment out of Asia due to modal shift.” “Russian and Belarussian ports in the Baltic, Black Sea and Sea of Azov may see a build-up of boxes if carriers refuse port calls due to the precarious situation and sanctions. The full implications of sanctions are not yet clear, but the closure of the SWIFT system to Russia will make payments from Russian partners difficult.” An official said, “Borders with the EU are closed. We expect the war to add to the stretched nature of global container supply chains, bringing more inflation and delays.”

American Airlines Cargo has announced a dedicated suite of products and priorities to make it easier for customers to book a variety of Life Sciences and Healthcare shipments – a segment that has seen a 17% volume increase over the last years across regions the airline serves. With advancements in individualized healthcare and medical innovations that lead to longer, healthier lives, fast and reliable transportation of these shipments has never been more crucial. This new offering leverages the network of the world’s largest airline and award-winning expertise to serve customers now and into the future. The Life Sciences suite offers cargo products designed for time-sensitive shipments. Whether under 100lbs, bulk or containerized, American’s Priority Parcel Service (PPS) or ExpediteFS services provide benefits including next-flight booking options, priority boarding and the shortest tender times. These two products are also customizable, as the airline offers an array of handling and monitoring capabilities based on the level of handling a shipment may need – from prioritized take-off and landing for life-saving medical shipments with MEDEVAC service, to enhanced monitoring and proactive updates with Critical PPS service. Also included in the Life Sciences suite is American’s cold-chain solution, ExpediteTC. This product offers both active and passive temperature capabilities for shipments and has earned the airline Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma) certification. Awarded by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), CEIV Pharma certification recognizes air carriers and entire air cargo supply chains that have established the tools, procedures and staffing to ensure pharmaceuticals are properly handled and maintain product integrity. American is currently CEIV Pharma certified for its operations in and out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Philadelphia …

Air cargo shippers on Asia to Europe lanes should expect a spike in prices as a substantial amount of capacity has come out of the market. The EU and UK ban on Russian aircraft in their airspace, in the past three days has forced Volga-Dnepr Group’s AirBridgeCargo (ABC) remove all its aircraft from Europe. With the ban in place, at least four aircrafts have departed the EU. ABC in the current marketplace has a large capacity with its fleet containing 15 747Fs, and one 777F. With Asia-Europe its key operating region, the aircraft are currently either in Russia or operating to destinations in Asia. It remains to be seen what volumes it can carry in its new restricted world. Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ aircraft have also left the EU, with one AN-124 destined to arrive in Marseille yesterday, diverted to Tunis. Canada has also banned Russian airlines from its airspace, but one AN-124 appears to be in Toronto, and it is unclear whether it will be able to leave. Even the US is considering a ban on Russian airlines but has not yet implemented it. ABC had two aircraft in the US which departed over the weekend. EU airlines associated with Volga-Dnepr – Cargologicair in the UK and Cargologic Germany – continue to operate normally, and all aircraft are currently in the EU or UK. The impact is not only being felt by the Russian airlines. Finnair Cargo has also cut all its operations to east Asia, reducing capacity again. The airline will not operate to Osaka, Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai or Guangzhou, with a review of the situation to take place on 6 March.

Envisioning Bharat@100, ASSOCHAM organised conference and awards to focus on various issues including ey issues related to cargo. The 13th Annual International Conference-cum-Awards on Civil Aviation & Cargo was held on the theme ‘Driving Post-COVID Growth’ on 28th February 2022. The conference aims to outline the prominent pain points that the industry is facing – pre or post pandemic – and find specific solutions to relieve stress from Civil Aviation Sector, make it self-sustainable and economically viable. Eminent participants included: Piyush Shrivastava, Sr. Economic Advisor, Ministry of Civil Aviation, GoI, Vipin Vohra, Chairman, Continental Carriers Pvt. Ltd., Vijay Sharma, Head Cargo (Commercial Aero), GMR Group, Cyrus Katgara, Partner, Jeena & Co. and President, Air Cargo Forum of India (ACFI), Keku Bomi Gazder, Chief Executive Officer, AAI Cargo Logistics & Allied Services Company Ltd., Sanat Kaul, Chairman, International Foundation for Aviation Aerospace and Drones (IFAAD), Rajesh Singh, AVP Cargo, Spice Jet Express Ltd. Key Issues discussed in the session were: • Ease of doing business in Cargo • Providing industry status to Cargo • Addressing challenges faced by cargo industry

The unmatched expertise and a strong, global service network are what distinguish ECS Group. With Just Fly It, one of ten individually purchasable New Abilities, the Augmented GSA offers a pure and comprehensive, international charter service. What makes this particular product unique, is that it is designed to support two different customer groups: those seeking capacity, and those with capacity to offer. Freight forwarding clients requiring urgent, additional capacity, can opt to delegate the search to ECS Group. Just Fly It takes care of sourcing the right-sized charter and all the considerations listed above. Yet, Just Fly It is also a unique service offer to airlines with aircraft of all sizes available for charter. They can rely on ECS Group to put these to good use. One such example, Amelia International, which is venturing into the world of cargo, having taken delivery of its first ATR-72 freighter in January of this year. The Ljubljana-based freighter recently set off on its first commercial charter flight when ECS Group matched an urgent customer request. Within a matter of hours, ECS Group agreed the contractual terms and conditions with the customer and supervised the operational preparations for the flight. Matija Krajnc, Managing Director at Amelia International declared: “We successfully operated our first charter flight from Gyor, Hungary, to Bremen Germany. The flight, on behalf of a customer in the automotive industry, took place on 10 February 2022, carrying a full payload of around 7.5 tonnes of automotive components. We are delighted that our ATR-72 Freighter has finally embarked on its first mission to provide much-needed air cargo capacity within Europe. With ECS Group’s support, we look forward to many more, similar flights, soon.”

With around 40% of annual global air cargo typically transported in the belly hold of passenger aircraft, the grounding of planes during the pandemic, created a huge gap between demand and supply. Innovations such as loading the cabins with cargo also fell short to fill up the gap and cater to the needs adequately, creating a need and market for all cargo aeroplanes. Looking at the decline of international passenger traffic and scarcity of belly-hold space, India’s freight-forwarding specialist Jet Freight Logistics sees an opportunity and needs to establish its in-house cargo airline. In addition to this, the Incentivization of the aviation industry by the government of India with plans like GatiShakti, and the push towards agri exports has further supported the freight forwarding companies’ ambition of its all-cargo airline. Jet Freight is handling the highest volume of export Agri produced by air in the country today and expects a drastic increase in terms of cargo export volume by air especially Agri export, creating the market for cargo airlines in the coming future. With its Indian all-cargo airline Jet freight aims to help ramp up capacity in the Indian international freight market.

CMA CGM Air Cargo has applied for a US foreign air carrier permit from the US Department of Transportation as CMA CGM looks set to launch its own Air Operator Certificate (AOC) airline in the first half of this year. The application document, which is dated 22 February, said: “CMA CGM AIR CARGO (“CMA CGM”) hereby applies for a foreign air carrier permit to transport property and mail pursuant to the Air Transport Agreement between the United States and the European Union and its Member States.” The document noted that CMA CGM has applied for an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and operations specifications from the French Civil Aviation Authority…and “expects the application to be approved soon”. A certificate from the French Civil Aviation Authority would allow the company’s rapidly expanding freighter fleet to serve additional routes out of Paris CDG. This could mean a phased switch of A330-200 freighter services from its Liege hub in Belgium to Paris CDG. The US application document confirms that CMA CGM Air Cargo plans to begin operations in Spring 2022 with service between Paris, France and Chicago in Illinois, New York and Atlanta in Georgia.

Shannon Group has plans to upgrade its cargo facilities at Shannon Airport in Ireland. It’s development, currently awaiting planning permission, is a “2,705 sq m distribution facility”. This facility will be located on a three-acre development site and will incorporate an additional 335 sq m of office accommodation. This facility will provide direct landside/airside access, said a Shannon Group spokesperson. “The upgrade of our cargo facilities is part of our overall plans to enhance the facilities Shannon has to offer to cargo operators using the airport,” added the spokesperson. The distribution facility forms part of Shannon Group’s development strategy, which has seen the Group invest over €150m in property since 2014. Over €5.3m in airfield rehabilitation works were recently completed at Shannon Airport. The rehabilitation works involved three separate areas of the airfield: the resurfacing of the executive jet and light aircraft park; the extension of a section the apron (which facilitates aircraft for the loading and unloading of cargo, passengers and for refuelling), and the resurfacing of the long-term aircraft parking area.

GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo (GHAC) is stepping up its investments to cater to higher cargo volumes by launching a dedicated International Courier Terminal (ICT) for handling express cargo this year. A ‘Cool Container Yard’, set to be South Asia’s largest on-airport base for temperature-controlled air cargo containers to facilitate transport of high-value life-saving medications globally, is also scheduled for opening. These two are part of a terminal expansion programme of scaling up the infrastructure, technology, and service offerings with additions to capacity across both domestic and international cargo terminals to meet the expected demand in the future. The entire export processing zone was recently converted into a temperature-controlled area, becoming the only cargo terminal in the country with such an offering. All these developments are likely to make GHAC the largest air cargo hub for south and central India. “Our cargo terminal has registered a positive growth momentum in a difficult year. With the expected return to normalcy in international air connectivity during 2022, we are very bullish about the future prospects. We will be making major investments into expansion and upgrade of our cargo terminal facilities,” said CEO-GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL), Pradeep Panicker.

ECS Group’s U.S. subsidiary, Miami-based Globe Air Cargo is now responsible for all cargo sales and administrative services connected to Azul’s entire U.S. business and will assist Azul with flight operations. Azul operates an A330 passenger and passenger-to-freighter fleet out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and Orlando International Airport (MCO), to Viracopos-Campina International Airport (VCP), Brazil, nine times a week, and is licenced to carry all commodity types. In addition to steering and growing Azul’s cargo business out of its online gateways, the GSSA has clear plans to also develop the airline’s business from offline U.S. destinations with dedicated Azul sales representatives. “We are thrilled to represent Azul which is a fast growing and very dynamic Brazilian carrier with a lot of ambition. We have established a dedicated team here at Globe Air Cargo, to support and develop Azul Cargo’s U.S business to Brazil and look forward to creating synergies with our ECS Group colleagues representing Azul in Argentina and Europe,” Danny OLYNICK, Regional VP North America for Globe Air Cargo, comments. “We aim to maximise Azul’s revenues and support it in accessing new destinations across the United States, both online and offline. What is particularly attractive about Azul, is its focus on e-commerce cargo deliveries all the way through to the last mile across Brazil: a fascinating expanded network challenge that we are more than happy to participate in.”