Category Archives: Aviation

Lufthansa Cargo’s handling operation at its Frankfurt hub has been “significantly” affected by Omicron infections amongst staff. “Loose freight via the Frankfurt hub from US & Canada and Europe (incl. Germany) that has not yet been delivered can unfortunately no longer be accepted by us and transported in a timely manner,” Lufthansa Cargo said. Around 15% of volumes handled at its Frankfurt facility will be affected by the embargo. However, direct deliveries as well as outbound deliveries in Frankfurt are still possible. Certain product groups may also continue to fly, this includes urgent freight (same day shipments), valuable freight, animals, organ donations, mail and temperature-controlled shipments. “Cargo that has already been accepted by us will be handled as soon as feasible,” Lufthansa Cargo added. The carrier also stressed that all shipments routed through its hubs in Munich, Vienna and Brussels are not affected and these facilities are operating normally. “Due to its high transmissibility, the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus continues to keep us on our toes and the infection figures have reached new record levels,” Lufthansa Cargo said.

The A300 served as the foundation for the Beluga ST jets, which were followed by the Beluga XL, which was built using six A330s. According to sources, the aircraft which was originally used only for the movement of oversized Airbus components like wings, will now be available as five Beluga ST freighters which can be leased by companies to transport their own capacious cargo. Airbus is reviewing plans to contribute all five of its Beluga STs into chartering outsize freight operations by the mid 2020s. This will eventually result in establishing a new Airbus business to manage this part of Beluga’s operation. Multi-purpose pallet system, portable onboard freight loader and newer outboard platforms are just a trailer of the new ideas being implemented by Airbus to support the new role of Beluga STs. The new multi-purpose pallet system requires minimum modifications regardless of the cargo it holds, and is made up of 2 meter modules with 20cm tie-down points. Similarly, the portable onboard freight loader will be used for less than 12 meters long & 20 tonnes in weight payload.

In response to surging demand for air cargo capacity in the region, GEODIS, a global leading transport and logistics services provider, has significantly expanded its AirDirect own operated network with three more intra-Asia Pacific (APAC) flight routes. With a newly established hub in Kuala Lumpur, the logistics operator will dovetail the air services with its Road Network linking destinations throughout Southeast Asia. The multi-modal expansion builds on its strong momentum in creating diverse transportation options for customizing supply chain solutions for its customers. The expanded flight network, which bridges Hong Kong, Chennai, Sydney, and Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur, can carry an additional 320 tons of cargo weekly. This will significantly ease the strain on the supply chains, which saw load factors and yields reach historic highs in 2021 when cargo capacity struggled to meet the surge in e-commerce transactions. With demand for airfreight forecast to increase, particularly amidst ongoing delays and flight cancellations across Southeast Asia following the impact of the Omicron variant, GEODIS believes its extended AirDirect schedules will become a pivotal component in ensuring seamless, reliable, and efficient air transport services in the region.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global air freight markets showing that full-year demand for air cargo increased by 6.9% in 2021, compared to 2019 (pre-covid levels) and 18.7% compared to 2020 following a strong performance in December 2021. This was the second biggest improvement in year-on-year demand since IATA started to monitor cargo performance in 1990 (behind 2010’s 20.6% gain), outpacing the 9.8% rise in global goods trade by 8.9 percentage points. “Air cargo had a stellar year in 2021. For many airlines, it provided a vital source of revenue as passenger demand remained in the doldrums due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. Growth opportunities, however, were lost due to the pressures of labor shortages and constraints across the logistics system. Overall, economic conditions do point towards a strong 2022,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General. December saw a relief in supply chain issues that enabled an acceleration of cargo growth. “Some relief on supply chain constraints occurred naturally in December as volumes decreased after peak shipping activity ended in advance of the Christmas holiday. This freed capacity to accommodate front-loading of some Lunar New Year shipments to avoid potential disruptions to flight schedules during the Winter Olympic games. And overall December cargo performance was assisted by additional belly-hold capacity as airlines accommodated an expected year-end boost to travel. As shortages of labor and storage capacity remain, governments must keep a sharp focus on supply chain constraints to protect the economic recovery,” said Walsh.

The Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (BLR Airport) recorded its highest-ever cargo tonnage, despite a turbulent pandemic environment. During the Calendar Year 2021 (CY 2021), BLR Airport processed an all-time high tonnage of 406,688 Metric Tonnes (MT) of cargo, recording a significant growth of 28.6% vs. 316,305MT in 2020. This is 7.2% more than the pre-COVID level tonnage of 379,348MT in 2019. International cargo recorded a 32.8% growth, 265,873MT processed, as compared to 200,209MT in 2020. Domestic cargo grew at 21.3%, 140,815 MT processed versus 116,096MT in 2020. The US and Europe continue to be the top trade lanes from BLR Airport. “The tremendous recovery in air cargo is a positive sign for the aviation sector that has been severely impacted by the pandemic,” said Hari Marar, MD & CEO, Bangalore International Airport Limited. “The key factors that contributed to the cargo growth at BLR Airport are our resilient ecosystem that ensured efficient operations round the clock; focus on supply chain efficiencies; conducive geographic location, aided with robust infrastructure and technology; right mix of commodities, and adequate airline capacities to key markets, globally,” Marar added. 13 airlines operate freighters to and from BLR Airport to various domestic and international destinations. Commodities driving the growth are perishables (both agricultural and poultry products), pharma, chemicals and textiles in the exports category, and electronics, heavy machineries, healthcare and life science products in the imports category. Notably, BLR Airport has emerged as the No.1 Airport in the country for perishable exports, accounting for 31.0% of India’s total perishable shipments during FY 2020-21.

Modair Aviation is rapidly adding aircraft to its fleet to expand its air cargo business. Moving ahead at a great pace Modair also launched India’s first tech-enabled air logistics company ‘Modair Express’. Modair Express will be enhancing the cargo experience by offering large varieties of products and best solutions mainly for cargo operation between Tier 1 to Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities. Aiming to offer daily scheduled services linking many Indian cities to the main Indian cities, Modair Express with its special small freighter aircraft will offer flexibility in loading cargo, medicines, time-sensitive and any other type of cargo that requires special handling or care. “With plans to emerge as an air cargo behemoth, we aim to connect all the remote locations with Modair Express. The country’s air cargo business is poised to take off in a big way with the fast-emerging need of transporting imported goods and medical equipment from one region to another as quickly as possible. In particular, the growth of the ‘value buying’ segment is quite encouraging for the air cargo segment. However, the segment faces a huge shortage of dependable services providers. Modair is committed to driving the businesses of its client’s several notches higher with a modern, innovative fleet in service and on order. Modair Express experts are ready to take on the challenge to your utmost satisfaction by using our air bridge linking Indian cities, simply because “we cargo India.” said Atul Jain, Chairman, Modair Modair Express will build a strong network ensuring efficient E-commerce services on a single day and maximum connectivity for the export hubs and sub hubs by serving them. Amid the pickup in demand for both consumer and …

Cargolux Airlines has launched a new online booking portal as part of the freighter operator’s investment in its digital capabilities. The new portal enables customers to log on, request an instant spot quote according to personalised criteria, as well as having visibility of allocations, “thereby enabling for the selection and booking of the best option”, the company said. “The online portal offers transaction options for all customer profiles, from international groups to local independent forwarders,” Cargolux said in a release. Mathieu Weber, vice president digital sales & marketing, added: “With this new portal, Cargolux is moving closer to an omni-channel connectivity experience for customers. The portal offers tailored quoting and booking in a few clicks and we are confident that this handy and timely solution will be highly appreciated by our customers.”

Understanding the importance of efficient cargo movement, the Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, in a meeting with officials of his ministry and the Commerce Ministry, emphasized kickstarting multi-modal logistics hubs in India. Taking to his Twitter handle, the union minister said, alongside necessary infrastructure, it was equally important to make our cargo movement processes seamless and customer-friendly. The Minister informed of chairing a meeting with officials from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Department of Commerce to discuss the way forward for kickstarting multi-modal logistics hubs in India.

The recently announced Prime Minister of India’s Gati Shakti National Master Plan for Multi-Modal Connectivity is all set to revolutionise the way infrastructure and logistic development projects are planned and implemented in India. It will bridge huge differences between macro planning and micro implementation. The Northeast region of India, comprising eight states, namely Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, share almost 12,000 kilometres of international border with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal and Tibet, and is connected with the rest of India by a narrow chicken-neck, having a width of approximately 20 kilometres, which is popularly known as the Siliguri Corridor in West Bengal. This has primarily kept the Northeast India’s trade potentiality under-utilised, which is understood to be much more than the realisation of Rs 3,577 crores in 2019-20 and Rs 3364.4 crores in 2020-21 as per the data as provided by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, Government of India. As a result of this, there is a thrust on implementing a large number of Union and State Government funded infrastructure development projects in Northeast India with the purpose of improving its internal as well as external connectivity. As per the MoSPI, there are 143 ongoing projects in Northeast India, worth an original budget of Rs. 97,418 crores in the beginning of 2021.

Frankfurt Airport handled record volumes of cargo last year despite a reduction in bellyhold capacity. The German hub – which is also the largest cargo airport in Europe – handled a record 2.3m metric tons of cargo last year. This figure is up 18.7% on 2020 levels and 8.9% ahead of the pre-pandemic year 2019. The airport said that airfreight was the main driver behind this growth, while airmail continued to be affected by the lack of belly capacity on passenger aircraft. Airport operator Fraport’s chief executive, Stefan Schulte, said: “Throughout 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic continued to have a massive impact on Frankfurt Airport. Passenger traffic recovered gradually in the course of the year – even rising threefold in the April-to-December 2021 period compared to 2020 – but we are still far away from the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. Cargo traffic, in contrast, saw very positive growth in 2021. Airfreight volumes in Frankfurt even reached a new annual record, despite the ongoing shortage of belly capacity on passenger flights and other challenges. This underscores our role as one of Europe’s leading cargo hubs.”