SHORT SHOTS

Swiss WorldCargo pushes e-AWB 360 campaign forward
The air freight division of Switzerland’s national carrier, Swiss WorldCargo is putting more emphasis on implementing the electronic air waybill (e-AWB) throughout its system.
Swiss is one of numerous IATA carriers which are pushing the so called e-AWB 360 campaign under a single process concept at many airports.
This new e-AWB approach is on offer to customers at a number of airports and is valid for all destinations served from these.
Swiss started at Amsterdam Schiphol airport as of January and followed on with implementation in Paris (CDG). Zurich, Dubai, Singapore, London Heathrow and Milan‘s two airports will be introduced by 1. March of this year.
Christine Barden, Head of Transportation Processes at Swiss WorldCargo comments that “the AWB 360 campaign marks another important milestone on the paperless cargo front.”

Fraport publishes their January figures
Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s largest, saw an increasing passenger growth in January, but also a small decline in cargo tonnages moved through the airport.
4.2 million passengers passed through the airport in the first month of this year. This represent a 2.2% increase over January 2015.
Interesting to note is that despite this increase, aircraft movements dropped by just over 1% with 34.244 takeoffs and landings recorded. This is put down to the continuing trend of carriers deploying larger aircraft with greater seating capacity. Fraport’s statistics show that the number of passengers per flight rose by 3.2% to an average of 130.3.
January remained a rather stagnant month as cargo handling was concerned.
The figures show an almost negligible drop of 0.1% over the same period last year.
Tonnages were on par to those of January 2015 - namely 159,650 metric tons.
Passenger figures for the Fraport AG’s Group airport holdings varied considerably.
The best results came from Lima Airport with a 10.3% rise and Bulgaria’s Burgas and Varna together increased passenger figures by almost 19%.

GSTS acquires Boeing 747-400F as future aerial firefighter
The aerial firefighting company Global Super Tanker Services which is based in Colorado Springs, USA, has received and ex-Evergreen International Airlines B747-400F which will be converted into firefighting aircraft.
The large Boeing is presently being refitted in Marana with a pressurized tank system, which was previously installed in another ex-Evergreen Boeing 747-100 series aircraft.
This aircraft however was never put into service as an aerial firefighter.
GSTS has managed to bring on board members of the former Evergreen Supertanker project in order to assist in future operations.

Kalitta to get B767 freighters for the U.S. domestic market
They’ve been flying Boeing 747 freighters for many years and now the U.S freighter carrier Kalitta Air is opting to add Boeing 767 freighters into their fleet.
The Michigan-based carrier is apparently taking a closer interest in the American domestic air cargo market.
Kalitta which operates a fleet of thirteen B747Fs, a few of which are old -200 series aircraft, has now purchased four B767 passenger aircraft. Two of these will be converted to freighters by Bedek Aviation in Tel Aviv and the remaining two will be used for spare parts support only.
In a recent statement, Kalitta’s Vice President & General Manager, Peter Sanderlin, said that its his view that Kalitta should diversify its operations and become more involved in the U.S. domestic market. The possibility exists that these aircraft may well be offered to DHL which is also to one of Kalitta Air’s largest clients.
However, there are it seems no long term plans to replace the B747F fleet with further B767Fs.

CLA completes Series of Charter Flights
Volga-Dnepr's new British offshoot CargologicAir has concluded a sequence of charter flights in close cooperation with broker Chapman Freeborn. In total, CLA has operated four charters, two to Bari in Italy, transporting automotive parts, including engine base plates. The other two services were conducted from Nairobi to the UK, carrying more than 200 tons of fresh cut flowers in time for Valentine’s Day last Sunday. Dmitry Grishin, CEO of CargoLogicAir, lauded Chapman Freeborn’s role and commented on the Boeing 747-400 freighter flights: “These flights have enabled us to demonstrate our operating capabilities for global charter services, which we will continue to offer even following the launch of our first scheduled services this month.” A specific date for this type of service hasn’t been set by the cargo newcomer yet.

LH Quits KUL
Lufthansa stops flying to Kuala Lumpur as of March 1, 2016 thus giving up a service operated since 2004. LH speaker Thomas Jachnow stated that the decision was taken in accordance with commercial considerations. Malaysian shippers and consignees expect severe implications as a result of this step since there will be no direct air link between Germany and Malaysia any longer. In future, they will have to utilize carriers from the Middle East to maintain their supply chains or use the capacity of AF-KL for instance to get their goods flown from or to Germany. In both cases the supply chain will be prolonged because German originating shipments have either to be transferred in Dubai or Abu Dhabi when travelling in the holds of Emirates or Etihad or they have to be trucked to Paris or Amsterdam when flying with AF-KL.
Asked if Lufthansa Cargo intends commencing cargo flights between Frankfurt and Kuala Lumpur a speaker denied any such plans for the near future.

SingPost Bows to Public Pressure over Auditor Appointment
Capitulating to public pressure over its choice of its longstanding external auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as special auditor for its corporate governance probe, Singapore Post (SingPost) has appointed Drew & Napier LLC (D&N) to act as joint independent special auditor together with PwC.
The move comes after concerns about SinPost's initial appointment of PwC were raised by some media commentators, shareholders and regulatory bodies, including the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra).
Acra last week demanded that consultancy PwC had to put in place "any necessary safeguards" to ensure PwC's independence as SingPost's special auditor, according to a statement from the Securities Investors Association (Singapore) - SIAS. Acra also warned that it would "take the necessary regulatory action if the requirements of the Acra Code are not met," SIAS said.
The corporate governance probe was initiated by SingPost in January to clear misconceptions over the possible involvement and role of SingPost board director, Keith Tay in recent acquisitions by SingPost of three logistics companies.
As a result of D&N’s appointment, the joint special audit is expected to be completed next month.

John Mc Donagh / Heiner Siegmund  /  Nol van Fenema