Category Archives: Aviation

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.

Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru (BLR Airport) wins Best Airport – Cargo Business award at the recently held 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.

July demand indicates a winter of discontent for airlines and forwarders as global air cargo rates continue to plunge, according to the latest weekly market analysis by CLIVE Data Services, part of Xeneta. Shippers will hold the upper hand in the next round of winter airfreight rates negotiations after another month of falling demand in July saw volumes drop -2% month-over-month, and the general global air freight spot rate decline at a hastening pace of 40% or more for a fourth consecutive month. Last month saw global air cargo capacity recover by +7% compared to a year ago, as airlines’ summer schedules stepped up to meet heightened passenger traffic. In line with this, the July global average dynamic load factor, which measures cargo load factor based on both volume and weight perspectives of cargo flown and capacity available, was at 55%, on a par with June 2023 but -3% pts below the level of a year ago. More capacity at a time of falling volumes placed added pressure on airfreight rates. The -41% drop in July versus the same month in 2022, pushed the average air cargo spot rate down to USD 2.20 per kg. This compares to a rate of USD 2.31 per kg recorded in June.

Leading tech service provider, CargoAi, in the second half of 2023 has plans to announce significant enhancements to the existing solutions such as an extension of CargoWALLET product for airlines, rate management for CargoMART, as well as move to the ISO 14083 certification for Cargo2ZERO’s CO2 calculation, says Matt Petot, CEO, CargoAi. The enhancements will boost efficiency by adding to the functionalities for CargoMART, where thousands of forwarders carry out multiple daily activities for airfreight booking. Having a centralized rate management system ensures that multiple users or offices can access the same database of information without needing send emails to and fro about different types of rates between offices, or to their shippers. The CargoWALLET app will allow forwarders to pay carriers directly– in this way, the need for manual reconciliation by forwarder and airline accounts teams is greatly reduced and improves workforce upskilling, allowing them to start moving away from low-value tasks. CargoCONNECT and CargoGATE benefit from all these enhancements due to the API architecture which makes feature deployment seamless from one product to the next.

Leading international freight forwarder, Galaxy Freight was honoured as the Best Time Critical Agent 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.

The latest figures from IATA show that in June air cargo demand decreased by 3.4% year on year, while capacity was up 9.7% and the average load factor was down 5.8 percentage points at 43.2%. The percentage fall in volumes was the lowest level since February 2022 and compares with a fall of 8.1% over the first six months of the year. The capacity increase for the month was also lower than the double-digit percentage increases recorded between March and May, reflecting strategic capacity adjustments airlines are making amid a weakened demand environment, IATA said. IATA director general Willie Walsh said: “We remain hopeful that the difficult trading conditions for air cargo will moderate as inflation eases in major economies. This, in turn, could encourage the central banks to loosen the money supply, which could stimulate greater economic activity.” Looking at performance indicators, IATA said that global cross-border trade decreased by 2.4% year on year in May, reflecting the “cooling demand environment and challenging macroeconomic conditions”. And June saw both the manufacturing output Purchasing Managers Index or PMI (49.2) and new export orders PMI (47.1) below the 50 mark, indicating a decline in global manufacturing production and exports. Looking at regional performance, Asia Pacific airlines’ cargo volumes decreased by 3.6% in June “mainly owing to weak demand on within-Asia markets”. IATA added that the Asia-North America trade lane saw improved performance.

MASKargo has begun tracking dollies as part of its efforts to improve operational efficiency and global customers. The carrier had fitted a digital tracking system on its 20ft dollies at the airport that has a geofencing alarm with 1.5 km coverage. The system increases dolly utilisation by automatically allocating dollies within the airport to prepare for peak hours. Abu Bakar Kassim, MASkargo’s ramp handling manager, said: “There are only 16 units of the 20ft dollies in our fleet and these are constantly in great demand due to their ability to take on more weight per trip. With a tracker on each dolly, we now have complete visibility of the dollies across the airport grounds.” He added that the trackers allowed the ground handling division to eliminate manual searches by monitoring in real-time for quick retrieval. The airline has been investing in its digital capabilities over the last few years, joining the online booking platforms, CargoAi, cargo.one.

National Airlines, a division of National Air Cargo Group, has entered an interline agreement with Middle East’s Etihad Cargo to successfully roll out the ICAIR23 programme for the United States Postal Service (USPS). This agreement initiates a unique partnership, as it combines National’s extensive experience in providing international freight transportation services with Etihad Cargo’s global commercial network. Under phase 1 of the ICAIR23 programme, National Airlines with P1 preferences will dispatch USPS civilian, military, and diplomatic mail using the scheduled services of Etihad Cargo across several awarded lanes for the period 2023 -2027. “We are looking forward to this association and hope to provide best-in-class mail delivery experiences to customers around the world through this programme”, commented Christopher Alf, Chairman, National Air Cargo Group in a release. Tim Isik, Vice President, Commercial at Etihad Cargo, said, “Etihad Cargo is committed to making the transportation of mail across the carrier’s network as seamless and efficient as possible. Etihad Cargo’s partnership with National Air Cargo Group will enable the two airlines to join forces to enhance international USPS mail deliveries, providing greater connectivity to destinations across Etihad Cargo’s global network, and provide customers with an efficient service.”