IN BRIEF, THE LATEST CARGO AIRLINE INDUSTRY NEWS.
CLA receives 4th Jumbo freighter
London-based CargoLogicAir has welcomed a new member to their fleet, a Boeing 747-400F, thus adding 120 tons to the company’s total transport capacity.
The aircraft is leased and will be operated to meet customer demand on transatlantic routes to the USA, reads a release.
However, that’s not the end of the line since a fifth Boeing 747 freighter will follow in 2020, the management confirmed an earlier announcement.
David Kerr, CEO of CargoLogicAir, commented: “The delivery of our fourth 747F will enable us to meet peak season demand, especially in our core U.S. market, and increase our options in terms of
frequencies and new routes as we head into 2019. We are continuing to consult with our customers to identify where they need main deck cargo capacity and expect to be adding new destinations to
our network in the first quarter of next year.”
He went on to say: “2018 has been our busiest year of operations so far with volumes and revenues doubling in the first nine months compared to 2017.”
Currently, almost 200 staff stand on CLA’s payroll.
In fiscal 2017, CLA achieved record sales, totaling US$107.4 million, up impressive 172 percent y-o-y. In contrast, income went down, leading to a loss of US$2.5 mn.
Qatar Cargo lands in Macau
A twice-weekly around-the-world Boeing 777 freighter of Qatar Airways Cargo has been launched by the Doha-based carrier with a commercial stop in Macau on the Chinese mainland. The routing is
Doha - Macau - Los Angeles - Mexico City - Liege - Doha.
QR Cargo says that this is the first time the airline serves Macau where the air cargo market is becoming stronger and the operation starts in time to cater for the expected high season traffic
consisting of electronics, garments and e-commerce shipments to North America. Qatar Airways Cargo now serves four freighter destinations in China. These being Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou and
now Macau.
Cargo iQ gets two new members
It was announced at this year’s ACF in Toronto that Cargo iQ has signed up two new members. Japan’s All Nippon Airways Cargo (ANA) and Dutch-based IT specialist CargoXS are the latest
organisations to sign up with Cargo iQ.
Tokyo-based ANA Cargo’s membership enables Cargo iQ to continue their plans to increase their Asian profile. Cargo XS which has its base in the Dutch town of Vianen, provides IT solutions in the
air freight sector, specialising in business intelligence analysis and what they term as ‘an accentuation of real-time SLA monitoring.’
Hiroshi Sugiguchi, Executive Vice President Global Marketing, ANA Cargo commented: “Joining Cargo iQ is hugely beneficial for ANA Cargo because it enables us to introduce standard KPIs to
leverage our quality control and compare our performance with other airlines to improve our processes and services.”
Leipzig expands again
Eastern Germany’s Leipzig-Halle Airport has announced plans for further expansion. The plans are for an enlargement of the apron handling space and buildings. The plans will mainly benefit the
DHL operation at the airport. There will be added taxiways built near the DHL operation in order to speed up aircraft movements as well as larger apron space for handling freighter aircraft. The
plans still have to be presented to the Saxony state government for ratification and will be handed over to the authorities by the beginning of next year. The cargo boom continues at Leipzig with
a 9,5% increase in volumes handled during the first nine months of this year. The lion’s share of course coming from the DHL operation.
The airport plans to invest a total of 210 million euros in the above-mentioned expansion.
e-commerce a trillion market
The Boeing aircraft company (see separate report in today’s CargoForwarder Global) is it seems basing their projections for freighter operations on the continuing boom in the e-commerce sector.
They stated at this year’s ACF in Toronto that the main contributor to this unstoppable expansion continues to come from the Chinese express cargo market, but also from rising demand within
Europe and the Americas.
In a statement which surprised some listeners, Darren Hunt, Boeing MD of Market Analysis & Sales Report said, “The air cargo market continues to be a major element of commercial aviation
growth.” So, not just passenger growth! Boeing forecasts an annual e-commerce growth of 20% which will reach a total of US$5 trillion by 2012.
Swiss WorldCargo widens scope of action
The Swiss carrier is offering the market freight transports to new destinations in Africa, Asia and South America. This includes belly-hold capacity on flights to Colombo, Sri Lanka that will be
launched November 3, 2018. These are conducted twice weekly. New on the itinerary are also two flights per week to Buenos Aires, Argentina beginning on 7 November. This is followed by services to
Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon as of 15th November, offered to the market twice weekly as well.
All services begin and end in Zurich, Switzerland.
Operator is Swiss subsidiary Edelweiss, whose cargo business is fully managed by Swiss WorldCargo. Edelweiss concentrates on scheduled leisure flights, deploying passenger Airbus A340s and A330s
on intercontinental routes.
States Ashwin Bhat, Head of Cargo at Swiss International Air Lines: “The introduction of these new routes that also include Mahe, Seychelles served since 22 September, offers great new
opportunities for us.” Mr Bhat went on to say: “This shows the impressive intercontinental footprint of both Swiss International Air Lines and Swiss WorldCargo. In addition to our increased cargo
capacity with the arrival of new Boeing 777-300ERs, new destinations allow us to showcase our best-in-class quality and service on a variety of global routes.”
Rhenus expands German air-sea network
The Rhenus Group of companies continues their expansion in the air and sea freight sector in Germany by opening two new offices in Hanover and Dortmund. The locations have been chosen in order to
cater better to the needs of clients in the north German cities of Hanover, Goettingen, Wolfsburg and Braunschweig, as well as for the Rhine/Ruhr areas.
The air and sea service at both new locations offer clients international transport services as well as import and export customs facilities. The Rhenus clientele are also in the position to make
use of the combined air and see freight sectors. The company already operates thirteen so called business sites within Germany and plans to open further new ones after Hanover and Dortmund.
Five Indian carriers to operate from Kannur
The new Kannur Airport which is situated in the southern Indian state of Kerala and which is planned to open in early December will be served by five Indian carriers. They are Jet Airways, IndiGo
Airlines, Air India Express, GoAir and Spice Jet. All five have applied for domestic and international routings. The state of Kerala is important also for air cargo, both domestic and
international. It is said that various Arabian carriers such as Qatar Airways, Oman Air and Gulf Air have shown interest in operating to Kannur. The Indian civil aviation authorities have however
restricted operations to domestic routes only for the time being.
Saudia Cargo appoints Al-Mubarak as Chief Ground Handling Officer
Abdulrahman Al-Mubarak is the new man responsible for the Ground Handling business unit of Saudia Airlines Cargo. The 33-year old manager’s appointment, who joined the airline last August,
reflects the increasingly important role ground handling plays within the Arabian freight carrier’s transformation program termed “Strategy 2020.”
Core elements are large investments into freight terminals, technology and the financing of training and refresher courses for their cargo staff.
In a release, Saudia Airlines Cargo states that Al-Mubarak joined the freight unit with a “decade of experience in commercial, cargo and logistics, planning and strategic management.”
Beforehand, the manager held several executive positions including General Manager Cargo and Logistics at GACA and Executive Director Traffic and Logistics Development at Dammam Airports Company.
FLEET NEWS
Moscow-based Atran which is part of the Volga-Dnepr Group, has announced that they will lease two Boeing 737-800 freighters from Gecas. These are P2F versions whereby one will
join the present fleet of three B737-400Fs by the end of this year and the other in the first half of 2019.
Brazilian carrier Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras, based at Viracopos Airport has started freighter operations by using a B737 freighter aircraft. A second aircraft will join the
freighter department by the end of October.
Budapest-based Fleet Air International which operates a fleet of two ATR 42-300Fs and three Saab 340Fs, has just acquired their first ATR 72-200F which was formerly operating for
ASL Airlines.
Kelowna, Canada-based KF Cargo has finished operations with their two DC-10 freighters which were operating ad-hoc charter flights to South America and Europe.
John Mc Donagh / Heiner Siegmund
Write a comment
Rayhan ahmed (Monday, 29 October 2018 13:54)
I very happy to see CLA have acquired
A fourth 747 freighter but gist of matter is British cargo airlines have ceased ops likes of channel express
Hunting cargo airlines and many more have ceased which has a downward spiral of a all British cargo airlines operating . But on the other hand will CLA keep operating in a few years to come or head in the same way as the above cargo airlines mentioned we still await and see .
As for foreign cargo airlines like Saudi cargo has downsized I used handle the Saudi 777 on the ramp operation but I did not see many all cargo Saudi 777 coming into Heathrow as likes of emerates .
Looking at PIA cargo they have not operated a freighter since 1999 a 707
340 and even now have still not seeked a freighter . Pakistan has a high export sector for fruit and veg and many Pakistani goods are very much needed in countries like U.K. Etc .
Trading is a very important for developing countries like Pakistan and a freighter operation needs to be put in place .