Category Archives: Aviation

IBM and Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) operator of Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (BLR) announced a ten-year partnership under which IBM and Kyndryl will provide the finest IT solutions. The plan is to create a new ‘Airport in a Box’ platform that will support transforming the end-to-end travel experience for passengers at BLR Airport. To achieve this goal, BIAL has selected IBM global business services, IBM hybrid cloud capabilities and Kyndryl, the new, independent company that will be created following the separation of IBM’s managed infrastructure services business, to design and implement a next generation architecture with robust and dynamic delivery model. The new platform will also enable BIAL to improve employee productivity, better utilization of IT assets, reduce costs through streamlined inventory control and improved incident management. IBM and BIAL will work to ensure that the platform supports BIAL’s commitment to sustainability and the community at large. BIAL recently achieved its goal of net energy neutral status in the financial year 2020-21, consuming energy from renewable sources.

Air Canada Cargo, the cargo division of Air Canada announces their quarterly results. They believe this quarter has seen their best performance ever. Canada’s largest airline and the flag carrier’s, Air Canada Cargo, achieved a record $358 million in revenue. This represents an increase of $89 million, or 33 percent compared to the same quarter in 2020. The second quarter results were recently announced and the highlight of the financial numbers for the North American carrier was the cargo revenue. “We’re tremendously proud of the strongest quarterly results Air Canada Cargo has ever seen, which are a testament to our continued efforts to maintain stable and consistent capacity flows for our customers across the globe through cargo-only flying,” said Matthieu Casey, senior director, cargo global sales and revenue optimization at Air Canada.

Lufthansa Cargo, supported by Miebach Consulting, is modernising the infrastructure for its road feeder services (RFS) at its Frankfurt hub. On behalf of the carrier, two mechanical companies — Vollert Anlagenbau and Körber — will carry out the modernisation of the RFS high-rack storage system, including its mechanical, control and IT features. Completion of the RFS stacker conversion is planned for early summer 2023. The complete modernisation of the Lufthansa Cargo Center is expected to be finished in 2029. Harald Gloy, chief operations officer and chief human resources officer at Lufthansa Cargo, commented: “The modernisation of the RFS stacker is another important component of the extensive infrastructure program for the logistics center at the Frankfurt site. In the future, our RFS customers will benefit from shorter turnaround times and more efficient handling of transports by truck. With the help of a modern IT environment, we are ensuring the adaptability of the high-rack storage system with regard to upcoming technological developments.”

The civil aviation ministry has constituted three advisory groups with representatives of airlines, airport operators, cargo carriers, ground handling companies, flight training organisations, and maintenance, repair and overhaul companies to address and solve challenges faced by the sector. These three groups will be chaired by Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. The first group will have chiefs of airline companies and includes Air India CMD Rajiv Bansal, IndiGo Promoter Rahul Bhatia, SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh, GoAir Director Ness Wadia, Vistara Chairman Bhaskar Bhat and CEOs of AirAsia India and Alliance Air. The group also has Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Secretary of Civil Aviation and Director General of Civil Aviation as members. The second group comprises of Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Chairman, Director General, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, Chairman of AAI, GMR Group Business Chairman GBS Raju, Adani Group VP Jeet Adani and BIAL MD and CEO Hari Marar in addition to the civil aviation ministry and DGCA representatives. The third group, which comprises of ground handling organisations, MROs, flying training organisations, etc will delve into air cargo related matters and advise the government on enhancing the participation of Indian carriers in air cargo.

Forwarder charter operations are expected to continue to the main airport hubs as part of efforts to provide service stability. Speaking at the Takeoff Cargo event, which is taking place this week, industry leaders discussed the changing air cargo market. In one discussion moderated by Steven Polmans, chairman of TIACA, Joachim von Winning, executive director of the Air Cargo Community Frankfurt at Frankfurt Airport, said that forwarders had launched freighter charter services to the main hubs in response to the loss of passenger operations. While he expects longhaul bellyhold services to return and therefore volumes to increase at all airports, rather than just at big cargo hubs, he said that forwarders may well wish to continue to operate charter operations to the main hubs.

Air cargo has been a “diamond in the rough” for AirAsia during the Covid-19 pandemic and is likely to retain a high importance to the business in the longer term, according to group chief executive Tony Fernandes. “What was a ‘nice to have’ has become something that could be as powerful as our passenger services,” Fernandes said during a CAPA Live event on 14 July. “Covid has driven e-commerce to another level, and hence air cargo has become much more valuable.” Amid that change, AirAsia is expecting to receive its first dedicated freighter in the third quarter of this year and is currently removing the seats from two of its Airbus A320s before deploying them as temporary freight-only aircraft. Air cargo is “no more a step child” in AirAsia’s business, Fernandes said. “I never thought we’d have freighters, I never thought we’d be taking seats off the planes to do cargo.”

Business-class airline La Compagnie has appointed Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) as its cargo handler as it enters the air cargo market. The airline has awarded WFS a three-year contract to handle cargo onboard its Airbus A321LR services from Paris Orly to New York’s Newark International Airport, which will increase from the current four flights a week to seven in September. WFS already provides ground handling services to La Compagnie in Newark for its passenger and ramp services to Paris Orly and Nice. Depending on the number of passengers, each flight is expected to carry up to 3.5 tonnes. Damien Paries, vice president ground operations, La Compagnie-Dreamjet, said: “WFS is the perfect partner to support the launch of our first-ever freight service. We are confident they will provide the same high-quality experience for our cargo customers as our passengers enjoy when they choose La Compagnie.”

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) had launched the UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) scheme in 2016 as a Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) to enhance regional connectivity through fiscal support and infrastructure development. However, as on May 31, 2021, only 47% of total routes and 39% of airports (unserved and underserved) have been operationalised[1] under UDAN. The number of new RCS routes which started operations increased at a healthy pace and stood at 102 and 120 routes in FY2019 and FY2020 respectively, but have declined to 77 new routes in FY2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. During FY2018 – FY2021, a total of Rs. 3,350 crores have been incurred by the Central Government towards the UDAN scheme and the budgeted outlay for FY2022 is Rs. 1,130 crores. Giving more insights, Shubham Jain, SVP & Group Head, Corporate Ratings, ICRA, says, “The slow progress of UDAN implementation is attributable to delayed upgradation of infrastructure and readiness of airports, due to lack of adequate right of way (including insufficient runway lengths) at some of the RCS airports and delays in securing necessary regulatory approvals. Low demand on few routes awarded, adverse and unpredictable weather conditions leads to inconsistent operations and have also resulted in closure of operations by some airlines in a few cases. The second wave of the pandemic, which started from mid of March 2021 would further impact the UDAN scheme going forward with aviation being one of the worst-hit infrastructure sectors.”

Cathay Pacific Cargo is introducing Ultra Track, its multi-dimensional tracking product, to its network, with a phased introduction at 29 ports across the globe. Cathay Pacific Cargo’s Ultra Track uses the Descartes Core Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)TM Network, Tags and Readers. These data-loggers and transmitters offer visibility to Cathay Pacific Cargo customers who can now monitor shipments in near real-time through the airport-to-airport leg of the air-cargo journey. This is the first Cathay Pacific IoT (internet of things) application that enables remote connection to shipments. Ultra Track is suitable for pharmaceutical, perishable and other vulnerable shipments. The loggers record and transmit data to Bluetooth readers in the cargo terminal and on the airside ramp area. Data includes GPS location and temperature – and depending on the type of shipment, this can be extended to include light, humidity (for example, for cut-flower shipments) and vibration, which is important for sensitive specialist cargo such as stepper machines, the printing presses for microchips.

Russian freighter operator Volga-Dnepr Airlines, in partnership with logistics provider Geodis, has transported a large custom-built compressor from Zurich, Switzerland to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.The carrier said that the special, one-of-a-kind cargo — measuring 15.65 m x 4.40 m x 3.85 m and weighing 100 tonnes — was one of the largest out-of-gauge shipments ever carried on one of its An-124-150 aircraft. Volga-Dnepr’s operational base in Dubai coordinated each step of the process, supported by load planners and a commercial team. Artemiy Ivanovskiy, regional manager, India, Middle East and Africa, at Volga-Dnepr Airlines, commented: “With strict delivery deadlines from the onset we were battling with many challenges from production, assembly, operations handling and other facets. Thanks to clear and straightforward communication with all the stakeholders, we were able to resolve them and come up with a comprehensive action plan to accomplish this complex transportation, meeting [our] customer’s requirements and getting positive feedback in the end.”