Category Archives: Aviation

It has been more than a year since the world woke up to the news of the new SARS-COV-2 virus. With over 200 million doses of all approved vaccines distributed to over 120 countries and 9,000 operated flights in which more than 350 DHL facilities were involved, DHL was part of the response strategy from the beginning. Over 50 bilateral and multilateral collaborations with partners in both the pharma and public sector and several new dedicated services were created to stem this task. “The white paper builds on the experience of providing logistics to manage the pandemic over the last 15 months and vaccine distribution in over 120 countries. I do hope that this will help to shape our plans for pandemic management as well as vaccine distribution in India,” says R.S Subramanian, SVP and Managing Director, DHL Express India. Highlighting the aspects that can boost India’s vaccine roll out drive as well as any future health crisis, Subramanian adds, “Better collaboration, boost for manufacturing capacity, research, production and procurement plans and expansion of local deployment capabilities are needed in the coming months. There is movement in this direction.”

Cathay Pacific’s cargo capacity was only gradually recovering in April after the relaxation of stricter crew quarantine rules in the middle of the month. The Hong Kong-based airline in April saw its cargo capacity in cargo tonne km terms drop by 36.6% compared with February levels as a result of stricter quarantine measures being introduced. These rules were relaxed in mid-April for vaccinated crew, but capacity only gradually came back online. The April figure was was also higher than the 25% drop off in capacity recorded by the carrier in March. Cathay Pacific group chief customer and commercial officer Ronald Lam explained: “While we welcomed the easing of quarantine restrictions for cargo aircrew in Hong Kong in mid-April, the positive impact of the relaxation was not immediately realised due to crew rostering lead time and our overall capacity last month remained significantly affected.” “The number of freighter and cargo-only passenger flights that we operated was lower than at any point since the Covid-19 pandemic began, limiting our ability to provide more lift to what was a reasonably buoyant cargo market, particularly on long-haul routings. This reduction in capacity together with the firm market led to a high load factor of 83%.”

The Lufthansa Cargo freighter with the registration D-ALFG took off for the first time with a very special design: the lettering “Flying 100% CO2 neutral powered by DB Schenker” and an illustration of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) highlight the joint mission of Lufthansa Cargo and DB Schenker. Both companies have been working together on climate protection for ten years and have now been able to launch a concrete offer on the market. “We are delighted to have DB Schenker at our side, a partner who is so energetically promoting the reduction of CO2 in the air freight industry. The special livery gives us the opportunity to draw attention to our joint commitment worldwide. It also shows that we take our support of the United Nations’ ‘Climate Action’ Goal very seriously. The increased use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel and a modern freighter fleet are measures with a great impact to sustainably reduce our CO2 emissions,” explains Ashwin Bhat, Lufthansa Cargo Chief Commercial Officer.

With the advent of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) has facilitated the transportation of over 387 tonnes of COVID relief supplies. Since the first shipment which arrived on April 26, CSMIA has registered the arrival of approximately 110 flights originating from 20 destinations across the globe. The airport has been prioritizing the shipments of essential medical supplies and achieved an overall processing time of 15 minutes, including offloading and storage. CSMIA facilitated the arrival of over 17,700 Oxygen concentrators, 3,19,800 vials of Remdesivir injections and 1,13,900 vials of Tocilizumab injections approximately in the period between April 26 – May 14 to cater to the increase in demand of these goods for the treatment of patients in India.

COV-AID@BLR, a 150-bed oxygenated COVID-19 treatment centre at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB/ BLR Airport), has been operationalised. The facility was virtually inaugurated by Chief Minister of Karnataka B S Yediyurappa on May 19, 2021 during his visit to the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB/ BLR Airport). Located near the Cargo Terminals of BLR Airport, COV-AID@BLR is open for the public and employees from the BLR Airport ecosystem The facility is designed to treat patients who are asymptomatic, with mild hypoxia (a condition in which the body or a region of the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply at the tissue level). It is designed to be a transit oxygen delivery centre, which would provide much-needed relief and treatment for patients requiring oxygen support until they are able to get admission in a hospital. This facility is not equipped to treat pregnant women or moderate cases and those requiring high flow oxygen support / ICU beds.

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope reached out to Allcargo chairman Shashi Kiran Shetty to help procure masks for urgent distribution across the interiors of the state. To meet the state’s demand, Allcargo has already transported 2 million masks from Singapore. Another 1 million to be brought in from the USA, China, and other countries. Following the logistics industry initiative led by Mr. Shetty in April when Allcargo flew in 500 oxygen concentrators, Bluewater Lines provided for the containers this time. Allcargo Logistics Limited, part of The Avvashya Group, is a global leader in integrated logistics solutions. The Company offers specialized logistics services across Multimodal Transport Operations, Container Freight Station Operations/Inland Container Depot Operations and Project & Engineering Solutions and Logistics Park. Benchmarked quality standards, standardized processes, and operation excellence across all the services and facilities, have enabled Allcargo Logistics Limited to emerge as the market leader in all these segments.

Blue Dart, India’s leading express logistics service provider and part of the Deutsche Post DHL Group (DPDHL) formed Blue Dart Med-Express Consortium with the mission of revolutionizing the delivery of vaccines and emergency medical supplies to the remotest parts of India with Drones. Blue Dart Med-Express Consortium is part of the ‘Medicine from the Sky’ project in collaboration with the Government of Telangana, World Economic Forum, Niti Aayog and Healthnet Global. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has granted the project with necessary exemptions and rights to fly drone flights on an experimental basis in Telangana. The aim is to assess an alternate logistics route in providing safe, accurate and reliable pickup and delivery of health care items (medicines, covid-19 vaccines, units of blood, diagnostic specimens and other lifesaving equipment) from distribution centre to specific location and back. Proud to be able to help the country in its fight against the pandemic Balfour Manuel, Managing Director, Blue Dart says, “It’s been over a year and our battle against COVID-19 continues to unfold new challenges that need solutions in real-time. The pandemic has taught each one of us the importance of logistics and the need for a tech-led supply chain infrastructure. As an organization Blue Dart has always been surrounded with the technology of the future. It is this ability that has helped us to not only withstand the pandemic but thrive with growth. While we reach out to over 35,000 locations across the country, the current situation calls for a much deeper penetration of vaccines.”

IATA is predicting a positive outlook for air cargo demand and believes it will continue to improve as the vaccine rollout progresses and bellyhold services pick up. In a press conference, Willie Walsh, director general of IATA, said airlines “deserve great credit” for pivoting their business focus away from passenger operations and towards airfreight in a short period of time. Noting the use of preighters, Walsh said: “Airlines demonstrated great agility in responding to demand to ensure that there was sufficient supply to meet critical supply chain issues during the pandemic.” He added that as passenger services pick up while the global vaccine rollout progresses, airlines will “shift from survival mode to rebuilding”. “As that happens, we’ll continue to be very focused on the environmental issues that have not in any way bated since we’ve gone through this crisis,” he said. “There is also an immediate focus on the development of sustainable aviation fuels.”

Recently launched CMA CGM Air Cargo has continued to expand its freighter network with the addition of three new destinations. The airline, owned by Marseille-based shipping group CMA CGM, has added Dubai, Beirut and Istanbul to its existing flights covering Liège, Chicago, New York and Atlanta. The service between Liege and Dubai will begin on May 19 and the A330F capacity provider hopes to pick up traffic carry cargo originating in Africa and Asia to and from Europe. “With its services to Dubai, the CMA CGM Group can also provide its customers with a combined Sea-Air offer comprising shipping, logistics and airfreight,” it said. The flights between Liege and Istanbul and Beirut will begin in the next few weeks. Xavier Eiglier, executive vice president CMA CGM Air cargo, said: “Strategically located at the crossroads between several continents, these new destinations will help speed up CMA CGM Air Cargo’s development.”

India has been battling a severe second wave of the covid pandemic and hospitals in several states are running short of health workers, vaccines, oxygen, drugs and beds. Emirates has set up a humanitarian airbridge between Dubai and India to transport urgent medical and relief items, to support India in its fight to control the serious COVID-19 situation in the country. The first shipment carrying over 12 tons of tents will head to Delhi on Thursday, 13 May. The first shipment sent as part of the Emirates India humanitarian airbridge is a consignment of over 12 tons of multi-purpose tents from the World Health Organization (WHO), destined for Delhi, and coordinated by the IHC in Dubai. The creation of the humanitarian airbridge between Dubai and India, facilitated by Emirates SkyCargo, Dubai’s International Humanitarian City and UN agencies, to transport urgent medical and relief items. HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates’ Chairman and Chief Executive, said: “India and Emirates are deeply connected, since our first flights to India in 1985. We stand with the Indian people and will do all we can to help India get back on its feet. Emirates has a lot of experience in humanitarian relief efforts, and with 95 weekly flights to 9 destinations in India, we will be offering regular and reliable widebody capacity for relief materials.”