Category Archives: Aviation

The air freight market has been on a rollercoaster ride of late but 2024 could see a return of “classic seasonality,” according to Oslo-based Xeneta, an ocean and air freight rate benchmarking and intelligence platform. “2024 could be an opportunity for shippers to catch their breath after the volatility of the past few years,” says Niall van de Wouw, Chief Airfreight Officer, Xeneta. “The rapid rate decline which started earlier this year has calmed down in recent months. It seems to be the market has a new baseline, from which I expect classic seasonality patterns to emerge.” The industry saw the cost of transporting goods by air skyrocket during Covid-19 before plummeting again during 2023 but they are still 32 percent above pre-pandemic levels, the update added. The Xeneta Air Freight Outlook 2024 highlights muted consumer spending as a key factor for the year ahead. “Demand for air freight in 2023 remains down by eight percent compared to pre-pandemic and is only predicted to grow by 1-2 percent in 2024. At the same time, supply is expected to grow by 2-4 percent in 2024.” Van de Wouw says: “The key indicators are not great from a demand point of view. It’s muted and there’s a lot of uncertainty in the world. People and companies are a bit more conscious of how they are spending their money and we will likely not see demand pick up in any meaningful way in 2024. Yes, we will see a return of classic seasonality but it will be muted seasonality.”

Kenya Airways is introducing a pair of Boeing 737-800 converted freighters in order to expand its cargo capacity. The flag-carrier says the freighters will contribute to its “diversification strategy” and address a “growing demand” for cargo carriage in the region. Kenya Airways currently operates a pair of older 737-300 freighters. It indicated that it was launching 737-800F operations during a logistics event in Nairobi this week, and said a second aircraft is due to enter service in February next year. “With the addition of this [new] freighter, Kenya Airways will now offer increased cargo capacity to existing routes as well as new cargo destinations,” said chief executive Allan Kilavuka. He said there is a need for African entities to invest in sustainable freight operations – including air cargo – to advance socio-economic development.

Blue Dart Express celebrated its 40 years of of excellence and nationwide expansion plans. Strategically positioned in key cities such as Kolkata, Asansol, Delhi, Agra, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Gandhinagar, Katni, Nainpur, Mumbai, Aurangabad, Bhiwandi, and Indore, this expansion indicates a significant step towards strengthening Blue Dart’s connectivity across the nation. With this expansion, the company has rapidly increased its footprint with over 100+ new stores this year, enabling customers to ship to more than 56,000 locations across the country. Collaborating with DHL, Blue Dart boasts a network of over 700+ retail stores throughout India, providing a reliable, resilient, and responsive service that ensures swift delivery and expanded direct access to all pin codes nationwide. Balfour Manuel, Managing Director, Blue Dart, states, “Blue Dart is strategically expanding its footprint by adding new stores. This move aims not only to enhance customer convenience but also to fortify last-mile logistics in remote corners of the country.” As Blue Dart celebrates 40 years of excellence, the company looks forward to continuing its legacy of ‘Connecting People, Improving Lives.’ This milestone underscores Blue Dart’s commitment to being the nation’s trade facilitator.

Kale Logistics (Kale) and its partner, Dagang Net Technologies have been awarded the Malaysia Maritime Single Window (MMSW) contract by Port Klang Authority and its nine subsidiary ports in Malaysia. Under the contract, both parties will jointly develop and implement the MMSW platform, connecting Malaysia’s ports to create the largest network of tech-enabled ports in a single country. Malaysia is at the forefront of global efforts to implement the Maritime Single Window (MSW) ahead of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO)’s mandatory deadline of January 1, 2024. “Kale is helping Malaysia to set new standards of innovation in the Asia Pacific region and establish benchmarks for other countries to follow with the implementation of MMSW,” said Vineet Malhotra, Co-Founder and Director, Kale. “By interconnecting nine ports, set to support 40,000 vessel calls annually alongside Port Klang, the country is poised to optimise its maritime industry and enhance port efficiency to unprecedented levels.” MMSW is a national digital platform that streamlines trade and shipping services by creating a central database to facilitate end-to-end information flow, simplifying maritime regulatory and port service transactions through a single sign-on and submission. Kale’s ready-to-use MSW platform is compliant with IMO standards and enables information and documentation to be transferred electronically between maritime and port stakeholders, which will become a compulsory requirement from the start of 2024. According to The Dagang Net Group, the acceptance of the MMSW project will complement the existing National Single Window system of Dagang NeXchange Berhad (DNeX), the parent company of wholly-owned subsidiary Dagang Net, and positively impact the group’s earnings and net assets per share from the 2023 financial year onward. “Dagang Net’s strategic partnership with Kale strengthens its capability to …

Menzies Aviation renews and secures several cargo contracts with various airlines at London’s Heathrow Airport, which includes Thai Airways Cargo, Middle East Airlines, Royal Air Maroc Cargo, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines Cargo and Tarom. Menzies is also now partnering with Thai Airways for cargo handling and airside trucking services, with 14 turns per week that will transport more than 16,000 tonnes of vegetables and fresh fish from Thailand to the UK. Apart from that, Royal Air Maroc Cargo, which is the cargo business of Morocco’s national airline, has also partnered with Menzies to manage their cargo handling at Heathrow.

Data provider Rotate launched a live air cargo capacity tool which is accessible to air cargo company users for free. The tool consists of live updated flight data from an exhaustive list of airlines, more than 9,000 airports and over 200 aircraft types and will let users see the amount of air cargo capacity on various trade lanes. The data has been “filtered, cleaned, and enriched to deliver unique, real-time insight into changes and trends in air cargo capacity”, according to Rotate. Gert-Jan Jansen, co-founder of Rotate, said, “The air cargo industry has long been investing in digital and technology solutions, which have led to ever-increasing amounts of data being produced and stored every day. Our Rotate Live Capacity tool supports a range of functions within the air cargo industry, from network design to business development, benchmarking, carrier management, pricing, and market trend analysis. Access to real-time data also opens up a whole new range of use-cases going forward – such as pricing and revenue management”

The Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI) is all set to host its 47th Annual Convention in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia tonight. Get ready to be part of India’s biggest air cargo convention which will focus on Artificial Intelligence as the Game Changer and Embracing the Intelligent Future. The convention will provide an exclusive platform to the global industry stakeholders to meet, greet and discuss potential opportunities, trends and challenges. The key highlights include AI transforming air cargo, ensuring safety and security of air cargo, advanced technologies bringing in revolution in air cargo and logistics. “The industry needs to know the benefits of AI implementation in air cargo business. The concept is still not common in India, and we need to aware them,” says CK Govil, President, ACAAI.

Global airfreight rates continued to rise last week as weather conditions, volcanic activity and wars put capacity under pressure. The latest figures from TAC Index show that the overall Baltic Air Freight Index was up 4.6% in the week to November 20 compared with the previous seven days. The increases were led by China as prices out of Hong Kong increased by 11.5% compared with a week earlier and are now down by 2.2% compared with a year ago. Outbound Shanghai increased by 5.3% compared with a week earlier reducing its year-on-year decline to 1.3% “led by double-digit gains to Europe”. “Rates from both Hong Kong and Shanghai to the US are now comfortably above where they were a year ago”, TAC said in its weekly round-up. “The overall rise was driven largely by some big moves out of China, with capacity seemingly impacted by various events including heavy snowfall in Anchorage, disrupting TransPacific traffic, plus volcanoes and earthquakes elsewhere in addition to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.” There have been 1000s of earthquakes in Iceland over recent weeks as a volcano on the island is on the verge of eruption.

Qatar Airways Cargo announced its latest product, Drive, designed to transport various types of automobiles by air, Drive caters to the unique requirements of each vehicle – be it regular cars, vintage cars, premium or luxury models, new cars and sports cars. It underscores the carrier’s commitment to delivering meticulous solutions for both personal and commercial vehicles. Miguel Rodriguez Moreno, Head of Cargo Products said, “Drive exemplifies our unwavering commitment to precision and customer centricity. With this product, we combine technical proficiency, experienced teams and charter solutions to offer a tailored experience for the transportation of automobiles. We take pride in our expert and dedicated teams who have been involved in transporting vehicles for several years including vehicles for many global racing events. Our rigorous and meticulously designed training ensures that our dedicated staff follow handling protocols diligently at every stage of the journey.” Drive offers customers the ability to move different types of high value vehicles with engine and wheels in a safe and efficient manner, on the airline’s freighters and passenger flights to more than 160 belly-hold and over 70 freighter destinations as well as to those destinations that are not part of its scheduled services. The Drive product is equipped to offer full or part-charters catering to the airline customers’ requests, and ensuring that even the most unique and exclusive automobiles are transported with the utmost care. The airline’s specialist teams from Special Loads, Dangerous Goods, Operations, Charters and its Loadmasters collaborate to offer the optimal loadability and cost-effective solutions for all vehicles being transported. Safety is paramount and the teams take extreme caution ensuring all safety measures are followed, and vehicles are tied down and secured …

Stressing upon the urgent need to train logistics aspirants, CK Govil, President, ACAAI says, “India has the largest millennial and Gen Z population globally in the 25-35 age group. They form a resource that no other country has. We need to tap this strength and train them.” “Several educational institutes are including AI and related studies in their courses across industries. Companies are collaborating with top universities to offer classroom and online AI technology courses. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has launched several initiatives to upskill the emerging generation with AI based skills. Even employers understand the significance of training their workforce in AI, and many of these employers started their AI journey with targeted initiatives to upskill their workforce in AI. This is being driven by the employees who are demanding such training, too,” he adds.