Category Archives: Aviation

IAG Cargo has restarted its direct service from the United Kingdom to Tokyo. The service will run year-round, three times per week from London Heathrow. Restoring the London – Tokyo service, which was paused due to coronavirus, will be welcomed by IAG Cargo’s customers on both sides of the Pacific. Tokyo is particularly significant for the export of pharmaceutical goods, which can be moved seamlessly using IAG Cargo’s Constant Climate service. This state-of-the-art cold chain product is specially designed to process time and temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals. Last year, the route played an important role in supporting the British Museum to transport over 200 pieces from Japan for a special manga exhibition, with the help of IAG Cargo’s Secure product. Alec Rayner, Area Commercial Manager for Japan & Korea, IAG Cargo, said, “Japan is an important part of our network and we are pleased to be reopening London Heathrow-Tokyo Haneda for our customers. The route is vital for them to stay connected with their trading partners worldwide, allowing the movement of Japanese pharmaceuticals, automotive and manufacturing goods to reach hundreds of destinations.”

With an aim to improve the sustainable transport of perishables and pharmaceuticals, The Cool Chain Association (CCA) and IATA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). As partners, the two groups will develop joint programmes including temporary task forces and round tables, for specific initiatives such as the transport of vaccines and life science products. They will also share feedback, experiences, knowledge, and best practice. As a first step, CCA took part in IATA’s recent webinar on the industry’s readiness for the transportation of vaccines and life science products. Nicola Caristo, CCA secretary general and airline partner manager, SkyCell, said, “Both CCA and IATA have a common interest in ensuring the secure handling and transport of perishables and pharmaceuticals by means of robust standards. “Through this agreement we are establishing a formal basis of collaboration to better assist the global industry to improve, as well as increasing sustainability and reducing waste. “We will be working together to promote the implementation of methodologies and quality criteria such as the Center of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV) Fresh and Pharma programmes.” Meanwhile, CCA members are planning a new series of data sharing tests, under a project called the LAX Initiative, to monitor perishable shipments on global trade lanes in a bid to improve supply chain management and reduce food loss.

Hardeep Singh Puri, Civil Aviation Minister said he has requested Aviation Secretary P S Kharola to call a meeting on the issue of boosting cargo flight operations at the Amritsar airport. India follows a very liberal air cargo policy, the minister said on Twitter, adding that foreign and Indian carriers can operate scheduled international cargo flights from any point in India, including Amritsar and Chandigarh. “However, there was insufficient cargo aggregation at the Amritsar Sahib airport. I have requested the Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation to call a meeting on this issue and provide all necessary assistance to the state,” he said. In order to promote agricultural exports, the government launched Krishi Udan scheme in August under which landing and parking charges are waived by the AAI for each such cargo flight wherein agriculture product is more than 50 per cent of the total chargeable weight carried. Amritsar Sahib, Adampur, Bathinda, Pathankot, Chandigarh and Ludhiana airports are included in the Krishi Udan scheme, Puri said. Spicejet has undertaken 14 cargo flights on Delhi-Amritsar-Moscow route since April 2020. India’s decision to restrict foreign carriers’ non-scheduled cargo flights to major cities in India was taken to provide a level playing to the Indian airlines at a time when COVID-19 has significantly affected the aviation sector, Puri had said on Twitter. Indian aviation regulator DGCA had on September 18 said that foreign carriers can operate their non-scheduled cargo flights to and from six Indian cities; Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, only.

Continuing to serve numerous destinations worldwide in the coming half-year from its home hub in Frankfurt am Main (FRA), Lufthansa Cargo has published the winter schedule for its cargo aircraft. “We look forward to again offering our customers an extensive and dense network of freighter connections in the coming winter period. It perfectly complements the some 150 worldwide destinations currently offered to our customers via the belly capacities of Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and SunExpress. In order to optimally meet demand, we will continue to manage our freighters flexibly in the coming months,” said Dorothea von Boxberg, Lufthansa Cargo CCO and Board Member Product and Sales. Between Europe and Asia alone, an average of 35 freighter connections a week are scheduled. Here, the focus will be on the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai (PVG), the South Korean capital Seoul (ICN), Japan’s capital Tokyo (NRT) and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKG). Also, scheduled destinations are China’s capital Beijing (PEK) and the West Chinese metropolis Chengdu (CTU), as well as several destinations in India, including Mumbai (BOM), Hyderabad (HYD), Chennai (MAA) and Bangalore (BLR). There are also scheduled flights to the Japanese conurbation of Osaka (KIX), the Thai capital Bangkok (BKK), the Vietnamese metropolis Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) and the Uzbek capital Tashkent (TAS). Cargo aircraft are scheduled to operate 34 times a week between Europe and North America. Chicago (ORD), New York (JFK), Los Angeles (LAX) and Atlanta (ATL) are among the most frequently served airports. In addition, Houston (IAH), Seattle (SEA) and Dallas (DFW) in the United States, Mexico City (MEX) and Guadalajara (GDL) in Mexico and Toronto (YYZ) in Canada are also included. The Norwegian …

Stepping up its readiness to handle the logistical complexities of distributing a potential COVID-19 vaccine globally, Emirates SkyCargo is creating the world’s first dedicated airside cargo hub for the vaccine in Dubai. The air cargo carrier has announced that it will be re-opening its Emirates SkyCentral DWC cargo terminal in Dubai South to serve as a dedicated anchor hub for cold chain storage and distribution of the vaccine. The freight division of Emirates has also set up a dedicated rapid response team to coordinate requests from the various partners involved in the international vaccine distribution ecosystem and to streamline the carrier’s response to vaccine transportation requests. HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates said, “Dubai is well positioned to serve as a gateway and distribution hub for COVID-19 vaccines to the rest of the world. We have the infrastructure and logistics connections, and a geographic location that puts markets representing more than two-thirds of the world’s population within an 8-hour flying radius. Over the years, through our continuous investment in capabilities and processes for the transport of temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals, Emirates SkyCargo has managed to position Dubai amongst major global pharmaceutical customers as the year-round preferred point of transit for their valuable cargo. Setting up a dedicated airside hub for COVID-19 vaccines is a keystone project harnessing our network, reach and competencies to positively impact the lives of people around the world.” The Dubai hub will allow the air cargo carrier to fly in vaccines from manufacturing sites globally, store and prepare shipments for regional and global distribution. Emirates SkyCentral DWC has over 4,000 square metres of temperature controlled GDP certified dedicated pharma storage area …

Uplifting a whopping 57616 kgs, Air Logistics Group with its partner Alitalia Cargo have surpassed their own record, within a week, of 54 tonnes from Delhi (DEL) to Rome (FCO) on October 3 and 53 tonnes from Mumbai (BOM) to Rome(FCO) on October 4. This is notably the highest ever tonnage for any airline to have achieved on a newly reconfigured B777-300ER. The selection of an optimum mix of high density cargo comprising of heavy auto parts & engineering goods together with pharmaceuticals, garments & spare parts carefully planned by the highly experienced and professional sales team, with efficient ULD planning, ensuring the ground handling and loading was done with great precision is the secret behind this mammoth achievement of 58 tonnes of freight on a single sortie ex DEL-FCO. Alitalia will now fly directly into Malpensa (DEL-MXP-JFK) effective October 23, thus giving a seamless & swift service into Milan & the United States for their customers in Delhi. Commenting on the achievement, Vikramjit Singh Ahluwalia, Managing Director – India, Air Logistics Group, says, “The milestone loads of 58 tonnes is a testament of the dedicated and committed efforts of the skilled ALG team, both sales & operations to select the correct freight mix, plan and execute the same with perfection and the overwhelming support we get from our esteemed freight forwarders.” “It is a moment of pride for Air Logistics Group & Alitalia Cargo who have been operating their weekly P2C flights from Delhi & Bombay since June 2020 and we shall continue to serve our customers in these challenging & ever changing pandemic times” adds Mr Ahluwalia. In current scenario of COVID-19, when passenger traffic seems to be …

The air cargo tonnage handled by Germany’s Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN) rose by 17 per cent in September to 77,000 tonnes, the highest volume ever handled in a month. The freighter movements increased by 8 per cent to more than 3,000 flights. Torsten Wefers, Director – Sales Cargo, Cologne Bonn Airport said, “All CGN-operating scheduled cargo airlines registered higher traffic results and additionally, based on their recently launched freighter friendly initiative, a rapidly increasing number of cargo carriers are moving their (ad-hoc) cargo charters via Cologne Bonn Airport.” He further added that the international airport in Cologne still offers plenty of capacity, unrestricted 24/7 operation/handling and customs services, perfect market location and access, dedicated incentive programs for all-cargo carriers and tailor-made solutions for your business.

Superseding the last record of 47,167 kg uplifted on October 11, 2020, Lot Polish Airlines has uplifted the freight load of 53,534 kg on a Dreamliner B789 on a single flight from Delhi to Warsaw. “We acknowledge the great efforts of LOT Cargo & GC sales/Operations team along with airport authorities and GHA who have achieved this milestone by excellent load planning. The team has set an example of excellent team spirit, complete dedication & commitment, especially in this challenging pandemic situation. We are very excited with the LO DEL team big achievement and want to thanks LOT Polish Airlines management for having faith in Group Concorde and all the stakeholders for their continuous support to make this cargo operation successful,” notes Group Concorde in a LinkedIn post.

With international cargo leading the recovery, cargo volumes at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB/ BLR Airport) are gathering momentum, following a prolonged slump due to the pandemic. This resurgence in cargo movement powered BLR Airport to become the first metro airport in India to record growth in freight in September 2020, compared to the same period last year. Improved connectivity and increase in Passenger to Cargo (P2C) aircraft, combined with proactive measures by Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) enable seamless processing to have pushed cargo volumes into positive territory. In the first first two quarters of FY2020-21, between April and September, BLR Airport cargo terminals processed 131,603 metric tonnes (MT) of freight. The cargo processed in September was 32,449 MT, a growth of +0.3 per cent, against same period last year. September 2020 witnessed a +4.5 per cent growth in international cargo, of which export cargo grew by +7.6 per cent. Meanwhile, domestic cargo is showing a slower recovery at -5.2% lower than the same period in the previous year. Perishable cargo has been one of the major growth drivers, with BLR Airport having processed 17,212 MT during this period. According to APEDA, the airport accounted for highest exports of perishables among Indian Airports till June 2020. It also processed 180,745 kgs of pomegranate from April to August 2020, to emerge as the leading Airport for pomegranate exports from India. The other segments driving growth are readymade garments, engineering goods, pharma and medical supplies. The introduction of road feeder service – LOGI Connect – to link cities like Tirupur, Coimbatore, Ambur, Salem, Erode, Hyderabad and Chennai further augmented growth, powering BLR Airport’s all-India market share of air cargo from 11 …

Pharma.Aero has enlarged its membership with a new airport member – Guarulhos Airport, global ground and cargo handling service provider dnata and transporting and warehousing company Ivemar. Welcoming the new members, Jaisey Yip, Vice-Chairman, Pharma.Aero says, “We are delighted to welcome these major air cargo players representing different nodes of the air cargo supply chain into the Pharma.Aero family. We also look forward to working closely with each of the new members in delivering our mission to achieve excellence in end-to-end air transportation of pharmaceuticals.” Monica Lamas, Commercial & Cargo Director, Guarulhos Airport adds, “During the past few years, Guarulhos Airport has received important investments in infrastructure, technology and process improvements, aiming at offering the highest quality and reliability to the pharmaceutical industries. Guarulhos Airport is the largest hub in Brazil for pharma imports. CEIV IATA was a very important achievement in this journey, and now, becoming members of Pharma.Aero will take Guarulhos Airport to a new level, as we will be side by side with the specialists of this platform, sharing innovations in air cargo industry and being part of the network of excellence in the pharma supply chain.” Dirk Goovaerts, CEO for Asia Pacific at dnata says, “dnata is proud to be a part of the Pharma.Aero community. We believe our membership is a testament to our ambition to work with industry stakeholders and provide reliable end-to-end air transportation for pharma shippers across the supply chain. Since the start of the pandemic, it has become increasingly crucial for both airlines and freight forwarders to be supported by an accredited ground handler like dnata to ensure the efficient handling of all types of life-saving vaccines coming through the air …