Category Archives: Aviation

Pharma.Aero has enlarged its membership base with three new full members – Dubai-based logistics and transportation services company First Priority Cargo, global 4PL BDP International and Lima-based ground handler SAASA (Servicios Aeroportuarios Andinos S.A). Over the course of the last two months, Pharma.Aero has onboarded a total of 8 new members. Jeremy Mitchell, Director, Pharma.Aero adds, “The membership of Pharma.Aero continues to grow with like-minded logistics companies. First Priority Cargo has been a long-time partner of Sharjah Airport. We are delighted that First Priority is becoming a member of Pharma.Aero, a testament towards the growing significance of pharma at Sharjah Airport. Pharma.Aero also welcomes BDP International, which has been providing global logistics services for the Pharma industry for decades and SAASA, which provides handling & storage of pharma shipments. The joining of SAASA enlarges our network in South America. We look forward to the new collaborations that could emerge between these new members and our existing members.” Ditlip Sitlani, Vice President, Business Intelligence & Operations, First Priority Cargo said, “We strive to be the best in customer service and pharma safety is an important part of the end to end journey. We are pleased to join a collaborative organisation which understands the care and responsibilities we should all have in this industry. We look forward to adding value and sharing of our thoughts and new ideas with the entire Pharma.Aero membership.” Simona Ravera, Director of Sales, EMEA LifeSciences & Healthcare, Business Development Solutions, BDP International shares, “Following our long term strategic plan and initiatives related to the LifeSciences & Healthcare industry such as to build around customer needs and service models in end-to-end pharmaceutical logistics, BDP International is happy to …

Leveraging its expertise in innovation and customer centricity, Blue Dart part of the Deutsche Post DHL Group (DPDHL), has launched its first ever consumer app, the ‘My Blue Dart App’ to provide tailored solutions and act as a one stop shop for customers ‘on-the-go’. The ‘My Blue Dart App’ is currently available on Google Play and Apple Store. Manoj Madhavan, CIO, Blue Dart, said “Blue Dart has constantly augmented customer experience while always ensuring timely and seamless deliveries across the nation. The app re-emphasizes our commitment and strengthens our value proposition. Our user-friendly, secure and reliable mobile application will now allow customers to track their shipment, locate the nearest Blue Dart store or find out the best pricing anywhere and at any time all at the click of a button, through the app. With comprehensive features and ease of use, the app will be an ideal platform for our customers to fulfill all their logistics requirements.” Ketan Kulkarni, CMO & Head – Business Development, Blue Dart, comments, “Customer centricity has always been the bedrock of our foundation. The app is a step forward in leveraging the use of technology to enhance customer experience. Blue Dart has successfully steered through all testing times of business and has sustainably created value for all its stakeholders. We are extremely happy to mark this milestone, especially on the occasion of our 37th Anniversary. Our journey through the highs of digitisation has been a long one, having pioneered many an initiative. It is also a testimony of the gold standard that Blue Dart, as part of the DPDHL Group, has set for itself by aligning itself with the Group’s ‘Strategy 2025 – Delivering Excellence in …

Continuing its contributions for the sustainability of the global supply chain by building a global air cargo bridge all across the globe with its cargo flights, Turkish Cargo started to carry COVID-19 vaccines with its strong fleet, wide flight network and special cargo service quality. Offering service to 127 countries around the world, Turkish Cargo carried the COVID-19 vaccines, manufactured in China, to Brazil which is at a flight distance of approximately 17 thousand kilometers. The COVID-19 vaccines, loaded inside 7 containers equipped with dedicated cooling systems, were transported safely from Beijing to Sao Paulo, the biggest city of the South America, with a connection flight at Istanbul. By carrying pharmaceuticals to the key and certificated destinations such as Mumbai, Brussels, Istanbul, Singapore, Dubai, Basel, London and Amsterdam, Turkish Cargo created a global pharmaceutical corridor between more than 400 destinations and maintains its commitment for transporting the COVID-19 vaccines that are ready or being developed. Holding the IATA CEIV (Center of Excellence for Independent Validators) pharma certificate, Turkish Cargo, maintains the cold chain at the optimal conditions thanks to the ‘TK Pharma’ product which was has designed for carrying pharmaceuticals at global standards. Transporting pharmaceuticals all across the global in great numbers during the course of the pandemic, the successful brand carried more than 40 thousand tonnes of pharmaceuticals, medical products and medical equipment between January and September, and reported a growth over 50 percent for the pharmaceutical shipments during the same period. Turkish Cargo provided a capacity increase for the COVID-19 vaccine shipments In order to satisfy the increased demand for transportation of the vaccines, pharmaceuticals and temperature-controlled cargo, Turkish Cargo commissioned the temperature-controlled smart warehouse with an additional …

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released the weekly economics’ chart showing the estimated economics of an average B777-300 operation on Transatlantic, under market conditions Pre-COVID-19 versus during COVID-19 (Mar-Aug 2020). This week’s chart explores how the economics of such flights have evolved compared to before COVID-19. The association has modelled a typical North Atlantic operation with a B777-300 aircraft, assuming the market conditions before and during the pandemic. According to this this week’s chart, the average flight is almost able to cover its flight-specific operating costs (loss of US$ 2,000). This is in large part thanks to cargo revenues that now play a more important role than previously, accounting for 41 per cent of revenues vs. 9 per cent. However, the model also suggests that covering the non-flight specific fixed costs would be challenging with such low loads. This is all the more concerning as airlines need to spread those costs across their entire fleet, much of which is currently grounded or at least vastly under-utilised. The main assumptions of the model are that passenger load factors drop to the average that airlines have reported in recent months, whilst cargo load factors as well as yields increase as a result of the shrinkage of belly capacity in the market. Fuel costs are also adjusted to reflect the recent prices. It is worth noting that the above simulation is not necessarily representative of all routes and aircraft. Demand for cargo varies largely between route areas with most demand for cargo from Asia to the rest of the world and the B777-300 is an aircraft with one of the largest belly capacities. Depending on the size of the belly and …

According to ICRA Ratings, air cargo volumes are expected to decline by 17-20 per cent in FY21 with meaningful recovery in cargo volumes expected only in FY22. Anupama Arora, Vice President and Sector Head, ICRA Ratings, says, “Despite faster ramp-up, the total cargo volumes declined by 45 per cent YoY in H1 FY2021, with slow recovery in passenger aircraft traffic leading to loss of the earlier available cargo belly space constraining cargo growth.” “In October 2020, the cargo volumes are likely to show significant improvement sequentially owing to the expected higher domestic air traffic movement due to the festival season.” As per the report, the cargo volumes in September 2020 reached to 89 per cent of pre-COVID levels when compared to passenger traffic at 29 per cent. Besides, the ratings agency cited that on the supply side, airlines adopted cargo on seats and dedicated freighters to meet demand while there was inherent fear to travel during Covid-19 pandemic amongst business and leisure travellers – the major contributors to passenger traffic historically, which kept travel demand subdued. “The domestic cargo volumes witnessed significant improvement to 94,598 tonnes in September 2020 from 7,280 tonnes in April 2020. The ramp up in domestic cargo transportation in aircraft bellies of commercial passenger flights aided volume growth. With the restrictions on the passenger capacity, domestic airlines followed ‘cargo-on-seats’ model thereby utilising some aircrafts of their grounded fleet for cargo operations.” Besides, the report pointed out that airports in metro cities have contributed to around 90 per cent of the overall cargo traffic over the last few years. “While the recovery has been faster in metros with Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad reaching closer to pre-Covid …

In a bid to provide an integrated supply chain management solution enabling aerospace businesses to prioritise and focus on their core activity, B&H Worldwide and OnLogistics have joined forces. “By creating this alliance with OnLogistics we are cementing our position in the aerospace industry as specialists committed to customers who operate within this challenging and time-sensitive vertical market.” says Gary Wilson, Group Managing Director, B&H Worldwide, in adding, “In this collaboration of expertise we aim to serve the aerospace sector with a seamless supply chain solution embracing inventory management, warehousing and international distribution”. Nick Bennett, Managing Director, OnLogistics, adds, “Establishing this new venture with B&H Worldwide is a strategic alliance that will combine the strengths of OnLogistics’ warehousing and ‘on site’ service solutions plus B&H Worldwide’s global forwarding strength. The landscape of aerospace logistics has changed, we must therefore rely on our mutual strengths to deliver an agile and cost-effective service. Our aim is to provide global solutions from a network of local expertise.” OnLogistics is a UK-headquartered aerospace, defence & engineering logistics specialist providing a range of aerospace integration services including contract packing, packaging design & supply, distribution and storage incorporating kitting and direct line feed. Its capabilities have tremendous synergies with B&H Worldwide whose own services bridge the operational and visibility gap between the aircraft and its global freight network. B&H’s unrivalled expertise in delivering freight solutions across the aerospace industry combined with the supply chain transparency means it can provide customers through the use of its innovative, in-house designed IT solutions are highly tailored to suit customer operating models. Its custom-designed FirstTrac software sets the benchmark for the aerospace logistics industry.

Shankar Shinde, Chairman Elect, Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations in India (FFFAI) has been elected unanimously as Managing Director of the International Federation of Customs Brokers Association (IFCBA). IFCBA enjoys the status of Private Sector Consultative Group (PSCG) representation on World Customs Organisation (WCO).The election of Shinde in IFCBA’s crucial position once again underscores the growing importance of FFFAI and India at large in the international Logistics & Customs Brokers business. Having more than 30 years of experience in Logistics and Customs Broking industry Shinde is very well-known for his huge contribution to the entire industry. Apart from FFFAI and IFCBA, he has also been associated with various industry associations including Nashik Customs House Agents Association as President, International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) as FFFAI nominated representative, Brihanmumbai Customs Brokers Association, Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture, etc. In addition, from FFFAI Shinde is spearheading the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) project collaborating with the Government of India. “The international trade community depends on the work done by Customs Brokers and IFCBA serves Customs Brokers by keeping them at the centre of the international trading system. It is IFCBA’s mission to promote the value and use of Customs Brokers worldwide,” emphasized Shinde while commenting on the importance of IFCBA. IFCBA works to bring about improvements in Customs policies and best practices on a global basis. These improvements benefit both Customs and Customs Brokers for achieving transparency in trade facilitation measures, brainstorming towards innovation for recommendation of seamless cross border customs processes and standardization with use of technology in achieving paperless transaction.

Aimed at supporting airports to prepare their logistics for vaccines, the Cool Chain Association (CCA) has launched the Covid-19 Distribution Change Management Matrix. The Matrix looks at adherence to temperature requirements, packaging, forecast and quantity, and timeframe across different stages in a vaccine’s journey through an airport. The Cool Chain Association will share the Matrix with members for them to complete and then bring together the information to help the supply chain focus on potential pinch points, training needs, safety and security, as well as supplier and risk management, and quality. “CCA members can share vital information, which, once consolidated, will provide a useful resource as the industry prepares in the best way we can for the distribution of the vaccines,” said Nicola Caristo, Secretary General, the Cool Chain Association and Airline Partner Manager, SkyCell. “We are not aiming to suddenly find an end-to-end solution, but focussing on airports, where we know there are potential bottlenecks and where we can use the vast knowledge in our network to help establish workable guidelines.” The scheme was unveiled during association’s recent Covid-19 Taskforce Workshop, where the focus was on the need for both shippers and legislators to play their part. Guest speaker Ruud van der Geer, Global Deliver Strategy team MSD, said, “The pharma industry was working to be as prepared as possible in volatile times. The biggest challenge is that we have to develop a network, but there are still so many unknowns, from the required shipping temperature to where it will be manufactured and delivered, and the overall manufacturing capacity.”

With an aim to bring its global cargo operations onto a single integrated digital cargo platform to improve operational insight across its entire network, Singapore Airlines (SIA) has appointed IBS Software. This will be achieved through the deployment of IBS Software’s iCargo SaaS-based cargo management solution. The implementation will see SIA transitioning from its existing air cargo systems to iCargo to support its cargo business units, which include sales, import and export operations, air mail handling and revenue accounting. This will serve to strengthen its ability to better manage cargo capacity, gain enhanced visibility of shipment yields and revenues, optimise network performance and seamlessly collaborate with partners’ systems, as well as drive efficiencies and improve operational resilience. “The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged the air cargo industry and greatly accelerated the need for change, especially in digitalisation. We look forward to working closely with IBS Software to leverage the many strengths of iCargo to improve our digital capabilities and allow us to deliver a differentiated customer-centric quality of service, while staying compliant and up-to-date with global industry standards and initiatives.” said Chin Yau Seng, Senior Vice President Cargo, Singapore Airlines. “Singapore Airlines is an iconic brand in the airline industry, synonymous with innovation. It gives us immense pleasure to welcome them to the iCargo user community during these turbulent times. We greatly value the trust that Singapore Airlines has placed with us and I’m looking forward to our teams jointly developing the next generation of air cargo ecosystem for their customers and partners,” said, Gautam Shekar, Senior Vice President and Regional Head of Asia Pacific, IBS Software. iCargo is an integrated solution that supports the end-to-end business functions such as cargo …

To ensure that the air cargo industry is ready to support the large-scale handling, transport and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine, The International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Guidance for Vaccine and Pharmaceuticals Logistics & Distribution provides recommendations for governments and the logistics supply chain in preparation for what will be the largest and most complex global logistics operation ever undertaken. Reflecting the complexity of the challenge, the Guidance was produced with the support of a broad range of partners, including the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA), International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) , UK Civil Aviation Authority, World Bank, World Customs Organization (WCO) and World Trade Organization (WTO). The guidance includes a repository of international standards and guidelines related to the transport of vaccines and will be updated regularly as information is made available to the industry. Accompanying the guidance, IATA established a joint information-sharing forum for stakeholders. “Delivering billions of doses of a vaccine that must be transported and stored in a deep-frozen state to the entire world efficiently will involve hugely complex logistical challenges across the supply chain. While the immediate challenge is the implementation of COVID-19 testing measures to re-open borders without quarantine, we must be prepared for when a vaccine is ready. This guidance material is an important part of those preparations,” said, Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and CEO, IATA. Key challenges addressed in IATA’s Guidance for Vaccine and Pharmaceutical Logistics and Distribution include the availability of temperature-controlled storage facilities and contingencies when such facilities are not available, defining roles and responsibilities of parties involved in the distribution of vaccines, particularly …