Category Archives: Aviation

Collaborative efforts from members of the BLR Airport ecosystem and passengers’ endorsement of top-quality services saw Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru (KIAB/ BLR Airport) being adjudged as ‘The Best Airport Staff in India and Central Asia’ at the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2021. “This is truly a fabulous reward for all of us working at the BLR Airport ecosystem as this recognition is based on passenger voting. A big thank you to all our passengers who appreciated our hard work and voted for us,” said Hari Marar, MD & CEO, Bangalore International Airport Ltd. (BIAL). “We dedicate this award to every member who has worked towards improving passenger experience at BLR Airport. I believe this award will add further impetus to our pursuit of excellence,” Mr. Marar added. This award is particularly significant considering the challenging year that the aviation industry has experienced following the outbreak of COVID-19.

Seventy-five years ago, Delta made its official but humble entry into the cargo business. 200 pounds of freshly picked mushrooms loaded aboard a DC-3 destined for Atlanta, making farm-to-table a possibility decades before it became a culinary hashtag. That first week of operation in 1946, the airline carried a little bit of everything to customers across the U.S.: a 64-year-old, $1,500 soup tureen; 1,100 pounds of auto parts filling six crates; 450 pounds of candy; a box of silver coins. Delta planes had served the Allied cause during World War II, transporting everything from food and surgical supplies to weapons and auto parts overseas. That helped give Delta what was needed to turn cargo transport into a full-fledged business. “The airline has grown, and the nature of our Cargo business has changed significantly over the last 75 years, but we are still in the business of providing Best-in-Class service to our customers with any of their freight and logistics needs – large or small,” said Robert Walpole, vice president, Delta Cargo. “We are here to support our customers and communities in the U.S. and across the globe. We look forward to another remarkable 75 years.” Today, Delta Cargo offers access to industry-leading shipping solutions and carries on average 2.2 billion cargo tons every year. Whether it’s transporting life-saving pharmaceuticals, organs for transplant, fresh flowers, seasonal produce or beloved pets, Delta Cargo’s strong product portfolio provides world-class service for every customer’s needs.

The Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) experienced record air cargo volumes during the first half of 2021 with a recovery in passenger traffic. Between January and June, 1.73 million metric tons of air cargo transited ANC, a 23.45 percent increase over the first half of 2020. “E-commerce ‘tech-celeration,’ port delays and low product inventories are causing a significant increase in air cargo activity. Our central location on the trans-Pacific trade lane, coupled with our efficient infrastructure and special transfer rights, have resulted in greater utilization of ANC by shippers to maximize their air-cargo potential,” said Jim Szczesniak, the Anchorage Airport Director. “We are seeing a continued shift in supply chains from periodic, container-sized shipments via ocean cargo to more regular, pallet-sized shipments via air cargo. With more than $1 billion in private sector cargo developments in the pipeline at ANC, we expect this growth trajectory to continue.”

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomes Air Canada Cargo to the association’s IATA Net Rates air cargo rates platform, allowing the Canadian carrier to expand its digital offering to provide an additional digital option to its customers. Under the TACT Air Cargo Solutions umbrella, freight forwarders can access the latest information on rates, rules, tariffs, schedules and compliance information that can be accessed online or integrated with customer systems, accelerating the distribution of rates to market while simplifying and reducing the cost of rate handling procedures. “IATA is very pleased to welcome Air Canada Cargo to the IATA Net Rates platform to support its cargo rates distribution processes. We look forward to future collaboration with Air Canada Cargo,” said Frederic Leger, Interim senior vice president Commercial Services and president, CNS.

Lufthansa Cargo, one of the world’s leading companies in the transport of air freight, has been making significant strides in the direction of embracing sustainability and digitalization – one innovation at a time. The German cargo carrier has been on an interesting path of forging a future built with sustainability goals in mind and has rolled out a number of decisions exhibiting this especially under the leadership of Dorothea von Boxberg, Chairperson of the Executive Board and CEO of Lufthansa Cargo who took charge this March. This also comes close on the heels of the air carrier having clocked an impressive year after its revenues reached historic highs, even as the global air cargo demand has reached above 2019 levels. Despite global air freight capacity crunch leading to a fall in sales, there was an improvement in its cargo load factor and yields were up in all regions served by Lufthansa Cargo.

The pandemic has fast-tracked the need for innovation and the increased need for transformations in the healthcare sector, especially in the transportation, logistics and last mile delivery of the Covid-19 vaccine. As transportation of medicines and pharmaceuticals is increasing due to the delivery of the Covid-19 vaccine, container solution providers around the world who deliver and process temperature-controlled pharma products have been rising to the challenge posed by the pharma industry in several ways. In line with this, va-Q-tec – a German tech firm that sells products for temperature controlling and insulation-vacuum, insulation panels and phase change materials has signed a deal with Turkish Cargo to deploy its thermal container va-Q-tainer on the airline’s fleet. The container has a special low-temperature service free of dry ice down to -50°C, which is best suited for carrying and transporting the Covid-19 vaccines. va-Q-tainers can maintain various temperature ranges between -70 °C upto +25 °C for several days inside the container. In addition, the underlying production processes have been certified as climate-neutral, according to the UN Greenhouse Gas Protocol since 2020.

Cargojet has invested in a minority share of US freighter operator 21Air as it looks to grow internationally. Cargojet will acquire a 25% interest in 21Air and will “continue to collaborate with 21Air on mutually beneficial opportunities in this expanding air cargo market”. 21Air is certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as a Part-121 air carrier presently operating a fleet of five Boeing 767 all-cargo aircraft. The company provides charter, ACMI, and CMI services to air cargo consolidators, freight forwarders, couriers, and integrators, including Cargojet. “This transaction is in line with Cargojet’s previously announced international growth strategy. This investment further demonstrates our ambition to build a more diversified and robust global footprint with strategic partnerships,” said Ajay Virmani, president and chief executive.

Celebi Delhi Cargo Terminal Management India Pvt Ltd, in collaboration with their logistics business partner M/s Shreeji Translogistics Ltd , have commenced a dedicated bonded trucking from Bengaluru & Chennai to Celebi Delhi Cargo Terminal , IGI Airport after the successful launch at Hyderabad , Kanpur , Ludhiana , NOIDA SEZ , Pithampur SEZ1 & SEZ2 , Ahmedabad , Indore and Kolkata to provide their customers a possibility to move air cargo in an efficient , safe , process driven and cost effective manner. Bengaluru service was launched on 15th July 2021, while Chennai bonded service on 11th August 2021. Celebi Delhi Cargo Terminal as an organization, has always been focused on new initiatives in terms of facility development, equipment & machinery and process improvement. This also includes Bonded Road Feeder Services to connect Celebi terminal at Delhi Airport with several hinterland locations and manufacturing regions. Bonded trucking is relatively a new concept in India and Celebi Delhi Cargo Terminal has taken a step forward to start a Hub & Spoke project. These bonded trucking service will open tremendous opportunities to Airlines to solicit business from stations that are offline. Celebi’s Airline Customers can now offer services to a city to which they do not fly, meaning a geographic expansion of Airline territory . Chairman BAR (I) Cargo Committee – NR Vipul Bhalla reacted to the opening of these new Celebi bonded routes and said “ Thank you for opening up options for the North India market as well as for the increased choices for our customers spread across India. Your recent additions from Bengaluru and now Chennai are very welcome additions allowing our customers alternate routing via Delhi. We …

Tirupati Airport welcomed the opening of a new Domestic Air Cargo Terminal, which is aimed at providing a strong impetus to the exports of the region. The new facility will facilitate the export of perishables to any destination which will help the farmers in the region Tirupati. The newly set up Domestic Air Cargo Terminal (DACT) was formally inaugurated at Tirupati Airport by R Madhavan, Regional Executive Director, Airports Authority of India (AAI), Southern Region, Chennai on Thursday. Regional Manager D Muralidharan and Airport Director S Suresh were also present. Speaking on the occasion, Madhavan said that with the commencement of cargo operations, the economic activity in and around the region will improve and facilitate economic growth. With this, the outbound and inbound mail, cargo and air traffic at Tirupati Airport is expected to increase.

Virgin Atlantic Cargo and Delta Cargo have extended their long-standing partnership with dnata for five years, continuing the successful operation of ground handing and export services from the joint London Heathrow hub and Manchester Airport. The partnership also includes regional cargo gateways London Gatwick, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Newcastle. dnata will continue to support the carriers’ cargo operations from its state-of-theart City East facilities at London Heathrow, boasting new technologies and award winning practices including: • 18 customer delivery doors with a Gatehouse concept • ETV (Elevated Transfer Vehicle), capable of full automation, with 245 pallet positions, up 20 percent, which enables the loading of flights in ‘trim order’ to support the airlines’ on-time performance • High-rise racking with 1,350 positions for storing export freight, eliminating unnecessary movements of shipments • A dedicated Pharma Zone and increased capacity for temperature controlled and perishables cargoes • Special facilities for Dangerous Goods and Live Animal shipment • X-ray technology with enhanced imaging capability, reducing the need for secondary cargo screening • Advanced internal and external high-definition CCTV systems to ensure a safe and secure working environment