Category Archives: Aviation

Stellar Value Chain Solutions is planning to invest approx. INR 200 crores over the next 3–4 years to build modern, tech-enabled fulfilment centres exclusively for D2C (Direct-To-Consumer) brands. The company has plans to scale up the cumulative D2C fulfilment space to approx. 7 million sq. ft. in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata by 2026. The D2C fulfilment centres will be located at key strategic locations and will cater to all sectors, with key focus on electronics, fashion, FMCG, and home décor. Stellar Value Chain Solutions is looking at onboarding around 20 D2C brands as its initial pool of D2C clients. These centres will be equipped with advanced technologies that will empower the D2C brands with new-age supply chain solutions while building smarter 3PL strategies. The centres will also offer fast shipping and efficient return management services. Commenting on the plan, Anshuman Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, Stellar Value Chain Solutions Pvt. Ltd. said, “With the rise in the adoption of digital channels and technologies as well as the robust growth of the start-up ecosystem, India is in the middle of a D2C revolution. We intend to develop a strong supply chain backbone for emerging and growth focused D2C brands by rolling out advanced D2C fulfilment centres across key consumption centres pan India. We have always been ahead of the curve in our mission to strengthen our service offerings, and the plan to launch a D2C fulfilment centre is in line with that outlook. Our tech-enabled fulfilment centres, along with modern transportation solutions, will help D2C brands deliver a superior customer experience. Our larger goal is to support large-scale entrepreneurship across the country with our differentiated supply chain services.”

There are mixed signals regarding air cargo’s outlook after November saw another double-digit percentage decline in demand. The latest IATA statistics show that airfreight demand in cargo tonne km terms (CTK) declined by 13.7% year on year in November. Capacity for the month fell by 1.9% against last year and load factors were down 6.7 percentage points to 49.1%. The decline is the ninth demand decline in a row and reflects high inflation that is curtailing the spending capacity of households, the ongoing war in Ukraine disrupting trade flows, and the “unusual” strength of the US dollar making commodities traded in dollars more expensive in local currency terms. “Air cargo performance softened in November, the traditional peak season,” said IATA director general Willie Walsh. “Resilience in the face of economic uncertainties is demonstrated with demand being relatively stable on a month-to-month basis. But market signals are mixed. “November presented several indicators with upside potential: oil prices stabilised, inflation slowed and there was a slight expansion in goods traded globally. But shrinking export orders globally and China’s rising Covid cases are cause for careful monitoring.” Looking at regional performance, airlines based in the Asia Pacific region suffered the largest percentage decline as demand in CTK terms fell 18.6% year on year. “Airlines in the region continue to be impacted by lower levels of trade and manufacturing activity and disruptions in supply chains due to China’s rising Covid cases,” IATA said. North American carriers saw their cargo traffic slide by 6.6% year on year in November, which was an improvement on the 8.6% fall registered in October. European carriers noted a 16.5% decline in November. “This was an improvement in performance compared …

Amazon has set up a dedicated freighter service arrangement with Bangalore-based all-cargo airline Quikjet to scale-up its network reach and delivery speed in India. Quikjet secured its air operator certificate (AOC) a few months ago and has a fleet of two converted 737-800Fs, according to reports. The cargo airline will provide a dedicated 737 freighter, with a payload of 23 tons, for Amazon’s India deliveries, and industry sources said it would fly under Amazon’s Prime Air brand. Quikjet, founded in 2007 as a neutral cargo airline, is part of Irish airline and leasing group ASL Aviation and is also backed by a few strategic Indian investors, including Tata Capital.

Vietnamese airline Bamboo Airways has launched cargo carrier Bamboo Airways Cargo JSC (BAC). The company said in a press release, “This is the airline’s latest movement in the overall strategy to build an aviation ecosystem, develop Bamboo Airways’ member companies, and create more favorable conditions for the airline to thrive in the coming time.” However, the launch comes at a difficult time for the air cargo market, which faces reduced demand for the first time since the pandemic started, against increased capacity. The change in market conditions led Vietnam’s IPP Air Cargo to abandon its launch plans, apparently due to concerns about weakening demand for air cargo and an uncertain economic outlook. AIA Cargo is the cargo GSSA for Bamboo in the UK and Germany and plays a major role in filling its Europe-Vietnam B787 capacities. In June last year, Bamboo Airways selected GSSA ECS Group’s Globe Air Cargo to develop its air cargo operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Bamboo said it currently operates a domestic network to 21 out of 22 airports in Vietnam while it expands its international presence to continental gateways in regions including Asia, Australia and Europe. The airline said it has been focusing on growing its inter-regional and inter-continental routes network. Bamboo has appointed Doan Huu Doan, executive vice chairman and executive deputy general director of Bamboo Airways, as chairman of BAC; Nguyen Khac Hai, deputy general director of Bamboo Airways, as chief executive of BAC; and Dang Van Vien as managing director of BAC. Pham Dang Thanh has also been elected to deputy general director of Bamboo Airways.

Kuehne + Nagel (K+N) has completed its first engine shipment using its Boeing 747-8F aircraft. The team in Chicago transported a nine-tonne Rolls Royce aircraft engine onto its B747-8F aircraft – named Inspire – from Chicago to Hong Kong. According to K+N, it took four people, three pieces of machinery and one hour to load the engine into its aircraft. The aircraft has been put into operation as part of the long-term charter agreement with Atlas Air, which sees K+N chartering the entire capacity of two B747-8Fs. The two B747s are the last of the famous jumbo jets that will be built by Boeing. K+N said the aircraft would be utilised on transpacific services and also linked to its intra-Asia network to provide better connectivity in the growing Asia Pacific region. In addition to expanding its airfreight offering, 2022 was a busy year for the forwarder’s project logistics team, which was involved in delivering wind turbine components for the pilot phase of Chile’s Haru Oni project – an integrated hydrogen plant producing synthetic fuel from wind and water.

DHL Global Forwarding’s December 2022 ‘Airfreight State of the Industry’ report indicated a fraught operating landscape but the outlook isn’t entirely gloomy. Following November’s low volumes, demand continued to remain reduced on most trade lanes and is likely to continue into 2023, said the report. DHL said that e-commerce shipments only added “negligible growth” to global volumes at the end of the year. The company stated that “any expected volume increase is likely to occur ex-Asia Pacific prior to Lunar New Year”. Reduced ocean freight rates are seeing shippers turn from air to sea shipments, it added. Additionally, rates worldwide are below their level against last year despite the effects of higher fuel prices. Although, recent analysis released by CLIVE Data Services indicates that while the spot rate dropped, average rates for December remained 75% above the pre-Covid level. The report did note that while inflation will continue into 2023 it is likely to decrease. Global inflation began climbing as economic pressures started to bite last year, but the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the inflation rate is set to drop. “Global inflation is forecasted by IMF to decline to 6.5% in 2023 and to 4% by 2024,” said DHL. In the first quarter of 2023, DHL expects to see low but stable demand, with high inventories and low sales. “Demand [is likely] to increase only as countries start recovering from high inflation,” said the report. Increased belly and freighter capacity does mean that overall, capacity is sufficient to support current demand levels.

National Air Cargo is opening business avenues for oversize cargo with the addition of its first freighter and is in discussions with Airbus about renting the ultra large Beluga transporter that can carry tanks, yachts, satellites and electric transformers. Orlando, Florida-based subsidiary National Airlines next month will began utilizing two factory-built Boeing 747-400 cargo jets, increasing the carrier’s fleet to 10 aircraft – including two for passenger charter. The newly purchased assets have a nose cone that flips open for ramp-loading of long, bulky items such as helicopters and trucks that can’t fit through a traditional side cargo door. The six other 747-400s in National’s fleet do not have nose-loading capability, said reports. Meanwhile, the logistics side of the company is exploring options for chartering the Beluga mega-freighter that Airbus recently made available to companies with special shipping requirements, said an official in the reports.

“The sudden closure of International Air Cargo Terminals as well as Common User Domestic Cargo Terminals by the order of BCAS on Dec 30th 2022 came as a big surprise to the Shippers/Consignees/Agents who suffered huge avoidable losses. No time or advance notice was given to them to look for the alternative, neither by the Service Providers nor by the Regulatory body. Taking a deep dive into the root cause looking for immediate solution, I presume the Terminal Operators and the Airlines are not able to apply or get the RA status owing to the acute shortage of trained X-Ray Screeners in the market as well as the X-ray machines and the unviable economics of providing both. Although the regulatory requirements, protecting all security aspects, need to be in place, yet these could be made little flexible to allow the stakeholders pool their resources or outsource to a third party at all locations, especially smaller Airports, in the best interest of all concerned stakeholders. Whether it was a lapse on part of the Terminal Operators or Airlines or Authorities, all the stakeholders need to be sensitized to empathize with the business community to avoid such colossal losses to them,” says Sushant Nigam, ED, ACAAI.

Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has accepted the request of AAICLAS, MIHAN Nagpur, SACT CSMI Airport, Mumbai, KSIEL Calicut to extend the time frame up to March 31st, 2023 for the process of converting of CUDCT to RA facilities at airports, where RA approved but not operationalized due to shortage of screeners as well as where security vetting has been conducted by the standard committee. Previously, CUDCT facilities of AAICLAS at Jammu, Pune, Imphal, Coimbatore, Madurai, Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam, Aurangabad, Vijayawada airports and AIASL Chennai airport where no substantive progress was observed were discontinued from Jan 1, 2023. In case of non-conversion to RA within the stipulated time all such CUDCT facilities shall be discontinued.

The Vijayawada division of the South Central Railway (SCR) has been awarded the first-ever contract through e-tendering for developing the new Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal (GCT), on railway land, at Bikkavolu. M/s. Grasim Industries Limited will take up construction of GCT, estimated at a cost of Rs.₹15.24 crore. The Railways shall retain a revenue share of 15% in Terminal Charges and Terminal Access Charges for a period of 35 years after completion of the cargo terminal, said Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Shivendra Mohan, said reports. “The anticipated traffic projections are more than 100 rakes both inward and outwards per annum from the new cargo handling plant. This move shall ensure development of additional terminals for handling the rail cargo and generate extra revenue for the division, the reports added. According to the reports, the firm will begin construction of Gati-Shakti Cargo Terminal within 18 months after receiving the grant of approval of construction from the headquarters.