Category Archives: Aviation

Block your dates for India’s highly anticipated and power-packed show on cold chain storage and transportation. Being organized by WIZ, Cold Chain Unbroken (CCUB) 2023 will be held on 14-15 September at Taj Bengaluru. The key points of discussion will include cold chain storage, handling and transportation, adequate infrastructure and skilled manpower for ground handling and transportation of products such as pharma and perishables, tech integration, government policies to facilitate EoDB and a lot more. Several industry stalwarts and stakeholders, including airports, airlines, freight forwarders, shipping lines, trucking companies, custodians are expected to take part in the show. The two-day event will provide a platform to meet and exchange ideas and collaborate.

Çelebi Delhi Cargo Terminal Management India was felicitated as ‘Best Air Cargo Terminal Operator’ award at the recently concluded India Cargo Awards 2023 in New Delhi. Piyush Srivastava, IES, Senior Economic Advisor graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Known as the “Oscars of the Cargo Industry,” the India Cargo Awards 2023 hosted by Cargo Talk (DDP Group Publication) serves as an all-India platform created with a vision to recognise excellence in the Cargo-Freight-Logistics Industry across various domains, including Rail, Road, Air, Sea, Allied Services, Warehousing, Technology, 3rd Party Logistics, and more. Our world-class awards ceremonies are known for their formal Black-Tie affair, filled with glitz and glamour, attended by the most influential personalities in the Cargo Industry.

C K Govil, Vice President, ACAAI shares that the world looks up to India for a constant supply of pharmaceuticals and several crucial consumables like rice. A focus on infrastructure and air cargo related policies can help make India a global air cargo hub. For instance, an Open Skies Policy, lower taxes on air exports, focus on reducing ATF prices to improve the air logistics costs, and pushing digitalisation and embracing artificial intelligence in processes are some steps that can work wonders for the Indian air cargo industry. Besides, the idea of digital air freight corridors has been floating in the global air cargo industry for a while now. These digital pathways optimise the flow of large volumes of cargo data between two nations or air cargo authorities. This idea can promote a real-time exchange of information on shipment visibility between two parties. A step was taken in this direction when Kale Logistics signed an MOU with Cargonaut in 2018 to facilitate a digital air corridor between Mumbai and Schiphol airports.

SriLankan Airlines Cargo was named as the Best International Cargo Airline at the recently concluded India Cargo Awards 2023, which has been dubbed the ‘Oscars of the Cargo Industry’ and determines winners via a transparent voting system. SriLankan Cargo offers direct air cargo services out of the nine Indian cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kochi, Trivandrum, Chennai, Trichy and Madurai, with connections to Colombo and beyond. With over 70 direct weekly flights from India, combined with worldwide logistics partner solutions, SriLankan Cargo offers easy connections for Indian shippers to a global network of cities, servicing popular trade routes between India and the Middle East and the Far East. During the past financial year alone, SriLankan Cargo transported nearly 10,000 metric tons worth of shipments from India. Chaminda Perera, General Manager – Cargo of SriLankan Airlines expressed his delight at the win stating, “As excited as I am about this incredible honour from the Indian cargo trade, it did not really come as a surprise as I know my team’s commitment and the effort that they put in to deliver on our promise of a reliable service to the Indian market. India is very important to us, and we will ensure to build on this momentum and keep raising the bar for our Indian customers.” SriLankan Cargo has been providing connectivity across Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Far East and Australia. Leveraging on road and partner networks, SriLankan Cargo is able to provide customers the flexibility to move cargo beyond the points which SriLankan Airlines directly serves. With superior storage facilities and cargo handling equipment to manage customers every requirement, SriLankan Cargo is a one-stop solution …

Sanjiv Edward, CEO, Cargo and Logistics at GMR Group highlights the need for prioritising air cargo in FTA Policy and building Special Economic Zones (SEZ) near the airport to facilitate ease of doing business. He also addressed the need to implement efficient freighter strategies to ease the process of freighter registration in India at PHDCCI National Logistics Summit in New Delhi on Friday. “We should have SEZs closer to the airports, it will reduce dwell time and cost and enhance trade. Countries like Hong Kong, Dubai and Singapore have it. We should also have Open Skies Policy for Air Cargo. Govt should prioritise air cargo in Foreign Trade Policy too. There’s also a need to promote air cargo as a product. There’s need for global branding and marketing of air cargo. I urge associations like ACFI to take this forward with the government.”

IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao inaugurates Telangana Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain to promote food and health security, empower farmers and boost exports near GMR Hyderabad Airport. The CoE is a joint initiative between the Government of Telangana (Telangana State Trade Promotion Corporation), Centre for Sustainable Cooling (CSC), University of Birmingham, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the GMR Group. It is the outcome of an MoU singed between Government of Telangana and University of Birmingham in 2022. University of Birmingham will serve as the knowledge partners and will help develop the centre into a state-of-the-art research and innovation hub that will help deploy needs-driven and equitable system-level cooling and cold-chain solutions in Telangana and India. The centre was inaugurated in the presence of H.E. Gareth Owens, British Deputy High Commissioner in Hyderabad, Professor Toby Peters, Director, Centre of Sustainable Cooling, University of Birmingham, Sri M Bikshapathi, Chairman, TSTPC, Sri Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principle Secretary (IT and Industries), Dr. E. Vishnu Reddy, Special Secretary (Investment Promotion) and JDM, TSPTC, Sri SKG Kishore, Executive Director, GHIAL, Mr Jimmy Washington, Director Sustainability, Carrier Group and other senior officials and industry representatives.

Aeroprime Group was honoured with ‘India’s Leading Cargo GSSA’ award at the recently concluded India Cargo Awards in New Delhi. Piyush Srivastava, IES, Senior Economic Advisor graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Known as the “Oscars of the Cargo Industry,” the India Cargo Awards 2023 hosted by Cargo Talk (DDP Group Publication) serves as an all-India platform created with a vision to recognise excellence in the Cargo-Freight-Logistics Industry across various domains, including Rail, Road, Air, Sea, Allied Services, Warehousing, Technology, 3rd Party Logistics, and more. Our world-class awards ceremonies are known for their formal Black-Tie affair, filled with glitz and glamour, attended by the most influential personalities in the Cargo Industry.

To discuss upon key issues such as high logistics costs, GST, infrastructure issues, connectivity, need for 100 per cent digitisation, ease of doing business etc., The Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI) members – President, Afzal Malbarwala, Vice President, C K Govil, and Executives Director, Sushant Nigam met Sumita Dawra, Special Secretary (Logistics), DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, GoI, ACAAI is gearing up for its upcoming 47th annual convention in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in November.

UPS Healthcare has announced the expansion of its UPS Premier service to India, marking another step in ongoing service and technology upgrades to meet the evolving needs of critical time and temperature-sensitive healthcare shipments. Indian customers will have access to UPS Premier Gold service benefits, including “first-in, first-off” prioritization, built-in service recovery features within the UPS global network, and 24/7 control tower monitoring. UPS Premier’s key benefits include: 1. Timely delivery of critical healthcare products with a priority lane in UPS’s global network, powered by advanced sensor technology. 2. Meeting the complex logistics needs of pharmaceutical, medical device and laboratory testing that require visibility, traceability and integrity of supported products and materials. 3. 99% On-Time Performance for global next-day deliveries of critical shipments. “Our customers are innovating like never before, and with that comes a need for near-perfect levels of service,” said EVP and President of UPS International, Healthcare and Supply Chain Solutions Kate Gutmann. “Through this technology-enabled service, we will be able to classify and identify critical healthcare shipments before they leave our customers’ hands, offering them unprecedented control, visibility and reliability across their supply chain.”

Aviation consultant IBA in its latest report has pointed out that there could be an oversupply of Boeing 737-800 converted aircraft. The consultant pointed to IBA Insight data showing that 200 737-800 aircraft have been converted into a freighter configuration in the six years since work on the first aircraft was completed. This is the fastest rate of conversion for any programme and compares to the 15 years it took the 757-200 P2F and 767-300ER P2F fleets 15 years to reach this size. The total 737-800 P2F fleet is on course to surpass the 757-200 P2F fleet of 311 aircraft, which IBA believes suggests a risk of oversupply based on the rapid fleet growth. “Indeed, the 737-800 continues to lead the narrowbody conversion market, with conversions of the A321-200 remaining steady as expected – with 20 planned for this year,” the consultant said. However, Robert Convey of conversion firm AEI recently said that leasing companies were now slowing orders of converted narrowbody aircraft. “While the narrowbody conversion market demand from leasing companies has slowed over the last few months, new orders for our B737-800SF freighter coming directly from operators continues to remain strong,” he said. In the widebody market, Boeing 767-300ER conversions continue to outpace A330-300s, which IBA Insight forecasts to be 30 and seven respectively in 2023. For the active widebody freighter fleet, the Boeing 777F continues to grow its leading position with a fleet of 240 in July 2023. The 767-300F was ranked close behind with 228, but the MD-11F has declined to 84 freighters in July 2023.