Category Archives: International

The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) announced its fourth Annual Leadership Summit, titled “Looking Ahead: Strengthening Resilience, Expanding Prosperity,” which will convene virtually this year from September 29-October 1. The program will include a range of strategic discussions between USISPF’s board members, including Fortune 500 CEOs and senior government officials from both countries. On Thursday, USISPF will honor Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Executive Chairman of Tata Sons, Punit Renjen, CEO of Deloitte Global, and Rajesh Subramaniam, President, COO and Director, FedEx Corp., with the USISPF Global Leadership Award 2021 for leading the corporate community in their heroic efforts of responding to India’s second wave of Covid-19. Congratulating the awardees, John Chambers, Chairman of the USISPF Board, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all of us in so many ways since the start of 2020. When the U.S. experienced the height of the pandemic, India stepped up to help us, sending critical medicines to Americans. It was amazing to then see that help reciprocated during the second wave of COVID in India. Partnership is built on trust, collaboration, and people-to-people connections. This year’s three awardees exemplify qualities of true leadership, as demonstrated by their tremendous individual efforts to help India in their time of need earlier this year. We are incredibly grateful for their courage, integrity, and hard work during this time of uncertainty, and are inspired by their actions to build a stronger U.S.-India partnership and more resilient global community.”

Airbus, one of the world’s largest airplane manufacturers, has firmed up plans for the freighter version of its successful passenger jet A350 with interest from the likes of global cargo giants DHL and UPS. And Boeing, which has a near monopoly in the production freighter market, has a plan for a freighter version of it’s yet to be operational passenger jet B777X. While the Covid-19 pandemic has taken its toll on the aviation sector, cargo operations are offsetting operators’ losses, as it continues to play a critical role in facilitating international trade. As a result, industry forecasts show an increase in demand for wide-body freighter aircraft with long-haul capacity. As original equipment manufacturers like Airbus and Boeing expand their production freighter options, the conversion of passenger-to-freighter (P2F) business has also boomed ever since the Covid-19 pandemic gripped the world.

Lufthansa Cargo along with the German Federal Ministry of Transport (BMVI) has come together for a new federal research project “Digital Test Field Air Cargo”. The aim is to increase the efficiency, performance and competitiveness of air cargo in Germany by improving the networking of all the players involved and digitizing processes. This project will be coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML). “We are pleased that the Federal Ministry of Transport has clearly committed itself to air freight in Germany with the Digital Test Field Air Cargo. We want to contribute to further strengthening Germany as a business location. That is why we are contributing our many years of experience in digitalization along the supply chain to this nationwide project and ultimately also want to set international standards. Digitalizing air freight further also means making it more sustainable. To this end, we see great potential in optimized data exchange between all partners in the airfreight transport chain, for example, which we want to leverage,” said Harald Gloy, Lufthansa Cargo’s Executive Board member for Operations and Human Resources and a member of the BMVI’s Innovation Commission.

Emirates SkyCargo, an air transport of temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals, announces the completion of more than 400 million kilos of pharma transport in 5 years, marking an important operational milestone. In September 2016, Emirates SkyCargo raised the bar in the air cargo industry for the safe and efficient transport of pharmaceuticals by launching its dedicated GDP certified pharma handling facility at Dubai International Airport and at the same time unveiling its three-tiered specialised product – Emirates Pharma. Nabil Sultan, Emirates Divisional senior vice president, Cargo, said, “At Emirates SkyCargo, we recognised very early on that our customers were looking for increasingly specialised solutions for their cargo and this was true especially for valuable and life-saving medicines that have to be transported under very strict conditions. We introduced our 360 degree transportation solution backed by state of the art GDP certified Dubai handling facility for our pharma customers in September 2016. The response from the market was overwhelmingly positive and we managed to very quickly transform the perception that Dubai was a destination to be avoided for pharma cargo in the summer to that of Dubai being a reliable hub for pharma customers all year round. Our pharma volumes have continued to grow over the years and to date we have transported more than 400 million kilos (400, 000 tonnes) of pharma cargo under our Emirates Pharma umbrella.”

Asia Airfreight Terminal (AAT) has been awarded IATA’s Center of Excellence for Perishable Logistics (CEIV Fresh) certification in September 2021. This accreditation recognizes our strong expertise, stringent training and excellent facilities in handling perishable cargo in accordance with global standards. It enhances our service commitment and professionalism when handling temperature-sensitive shipments. There is increasing demand for the safe transportation of high-end perishables and pharmaceuticals by air. AAT is in the process of further enhancing our handling capabilities to capture these opportunities as part of Airport Authority Hong Kong’s initiative to develop HKIA into the world’s Perishables Hub.

South Africa’s national carrier South African Airways (SAA) will stretch its wings after a hiatus of over a year as it entered into the business rescue process that began on December 5, 2019. The first flight took off today from Johannesburg to Cape Town. SAA has got wings to fly once again because the government finally decided to give up its controlling stake by offloading 51 percent stake to Takatso Consortium which comprises Global Aviation and Harith General Partners. Initially, SAA will not return to the international long-haul as the market conditions are not yet right. Even though SAA has two A340-600s (owned) and one A330-300 (leased), aircraft that are capable of serving intercontinental routes, the operating cost for the old fleet is so prohibitive that the airline has decided not to resume intercontinental flights for the moment. An SAA Spokesperson said, “SAA’s current fleet includes the A330-300 which has the capability and efficiency for some international service at the right time. However, the primary focus is for maximum operational flexibility within Africa. Future fleet for international service is yet to be decided and the timing of that decision will coincide with evidence of sustained recovery in international demand.”

The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) issued a warning that the industry is facing unprecedented challenges to deal with expected fourth quarter demand for air cargo services. The air cargo industry has responded to 18 months of pressure and challenges as the industry was faced with high demand for PPE, ecommerce, vaccines, perishables and other critical cargo as economies and society went into lockdowns then reopened. Addressing this demand, supply chain partners dealt with capacity withdrawals, then capacity shortfalls as well as ever changing travel, work and quarantine restrictions forced upon crew, handling staff and other key workers. As we head towards the fourth quarter and the growing number of annual on-line shopping events, the stress on the system is expected to grow substantially. With states, particularly China, introducing a growing number of Covid related worker restrictions which are unlikely to be lifted in the near future, the industry is urged to commence preparations urgently. Such restrictions are causing cargo to be disbursed across neighbouring countries and airports, causing further challenges. Shippers are therefore encouraged to work with forwarder partners to secure required capacity as early in the cycle as possible, said the official release.

Budapest Airport is a member of the consortium which won nearly 25 million euros of support from the European Commission, as part of a sustainability project called STARGATE. The airport operator’s task will be to develop and put in place a cloud-based, paper-free air cargo handling system, together with other sustainable projects concerning mainly the terminal, energy efficiency and traffic developments. As part of the project, Budapest Airport can implement developments to a value of 1.53 million euros, 70 percent of which (1.07 million euros) is provided by the European Union, with the rest funded by Budapest Airport. Reducing carbon emissions is a key pillar of Budapest Airport’s sustainability efforts. In recognition of this, it has been awarded ACI’s carbon neutral certification for the fourth year running. In line with its objectives, the operator of Budapest Airport thus joined a consortium consisting of Brussels Airport, Athens Airport and Toulouse Airport, along with 18 other non-airport members, which submitted a successful EU funding application dedicated to tackling sustainability in the aviation sector. Following several months of preparatory work, the contract between the consortium and the European Commission was signed on 6 September 2021.

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings announced that its subsidiary Atlas Air has entered into a long-term agreement with FedEx to provide two 747-400 freighter aircraft on a full-time aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) basis. This new agreement is in addition to the company’s existing multi-year peak season contract that provides FedEx with a minimum of five aircraft during the fourth quarter. Both 747-400 freighters have entered service and are flying on behalf of FedEx to support their growing express and e-commerce network. “We are pleased to grow our long-term relationship with FedEx. This agreement reflects the continued strong demand for airfreight capacity, particularly in the express and e-commerce markets,” said John W. Dietrich, president and chief executive officer of Atlas Air Worldwide. “Atlas is a leader in supporting express networks, with a focus on operating the most modern, fuel-efficient aircraft to deliver high levels of on-time performance for our customers.”

Mammoth Freighters LLC (“Mammoth”) is embarking on a long-term partnership with GDC Technics (“GDC”), a global aerospace company with extensive expertise in Engineering and Technical services, Modifications, Electronic Systems, R&D, and MRO services. The aim is to invest in a widebody maintenance and modification facility to support its Boeing 777-200LR and 777-300ER passenger-to-freighter conversion programs. Located at Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, Texas, GDC has a state-of-the-art facility with 840,000 sq feet and six widebody hangar bays for modification and maintenance work on 777 aircraft. Mammoth Co-CEO Bill Tarpley said, “By partnering with GDC, our Mammoth 777 -200LR and – 300ER freighter conversions and support initiative will be centrally located in the US in a facility designed specifically for 777-200/300 aircraft and with a skilled labor force in place.”