SHORT SHOTS

IN BRIEF, THE LATEST AIR FREIGHT INDUSTRY NEWS.

TIACA OPENS REGISTRATION FOR 28TH CARGO FORUM
Innovation is the top theme on the agenda at TIACA’s 28th Air Cargo Forum being held in Paris from 26th to 28th of October this year.
The registration process has just been opened by TIACA and there are great hopes that the attendance from around the world will be high.
Groupe ADP (French Airports) and Air France KLM Cargo are jointly hosting the event.
The Forum itself will be held at the Porte de Versailles along with a three-day exhibition which is open to everyone.
The Vision 2020 program at the forum will include workshops explaining the EU Customs Code, along with a session on the latest Advance Data legislation.
There are a host of speakers including Jean-Yves Chaumet, Senior VP Operations & Logistics, Air France Cargo and Randy Tinseth, VP Marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

AEI GETS UP TO 30 B737-800 CONVERSION ORDER
Aeronautical Engineers Inc (AEI), the Miami based aircraft conversion company, made public that it has now signed with a yet undisclosed client to provide up to thirty Boeing 737-800SF conversions.
The aircraft will have twelve main-deck pallet positions.

The deal is for fifteen firm orders along with an option for a further fifteen of the type.
Conversion of the passenger 737s will start sometime in 2018 and deliveries are planned to start in 2019.
Are these aircraft also heading for China?
CargoForwarder Global reported last week on AEI’s first B737-880 P-to-F program with the aircraft originating from the Turkish passenger carrier, Corendon Airlines.

AER CARIBE PERU ADD THEIR FIRST B737F
The Lima, Peru-based charter carrier Aer Caribe Peru S.A.C. has just started using its sole B737-400F on revenue services within the region.
The aircraft was originally delivered to Aer Caribe’s parent company, Aer Caribe Bogota in mid 2015 and is now transferred to the Peruvian unit.

Aer Caribe Peru also operates a fleet of Antonov AN-26 and AN-32 freighters along with Beech and King Air turboprops.

SILK WAY ITALIA LEASES THEIR B747F TO QATAR CARGO
In what came for many as a surprise move, Silk Way Italia, the Italian offshoot of Azerbaijan based Silk Way Airlines, has leased out their B747-400 freighter to Qatar Airways Cargo.
It is still not clear as to which routes the 747F will operate on for QR Cargo.
SW Italia was formed with the purpose of operating flights out of Milan Malpensa Airport to destinations within Asia as well as North and South America.
It seems there is better steady revenue for the carrier with a lucrative lease with QR.
SW Italia is a JV between Silk Way Airlines (42%) and the Italian investors Ignacio Coraci and Francesco Rebaudo (58%).

ASL FINALIZES TNT AIRLINE TAKEOVER
Irish ASL Aviation Group has acquired the airline operations of TNT Express N.V. com-prised of TNT Airways (Belgium) and Pan Air Líneas Aéreas (Spain). The two airlines are to be renamed ASL Airlines Belgium and ASL Airlines Spain respectively.
A staff of 580 people from the two airlines have transferred to ASL as a part of the acquisi-tion and the total number of global staff in the ASL group is now 2,500. 
The addition of the 35 TNT aircraft in the two airlines brings the total ASL fleet to over 130 cargo and passenger aircraft.
In conjunction with the transaction, ASL Aviation Group has entered a multi-year service agreement to operate flights for the new FedEx-TNT combination. ASL Aviation Group will continue to serve multiple airline customers.

John Mc Donagh /  Heiner Siegmund