IN BRIEF - THE LATEST AIR CARGO INDUSTRY NEWS
Formula-E cars moved by Saudia Cargo
Saudia Airlines which sponsors the FIA Formula-E racing championships moved with Saudia Cargo a total of 58 racing cars and spares with a total weight of 220 tons from various European airports
into Riyadh’s King Khalid Airport. They were flown in time to take part in the season’s opening race which was held in the historic city of Ad Diriyah from 13-15 December.
Saudia Cargo moved the costly cars and supporting equipment on board of various flights to Riyadh. The Formula-E championships are unique in the fact that only electric-powered cars can take
part. The inaugural Formula-E championship was initiated in Beijing in 2014. The Ad Diriyah location is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site and is also the historical capital of the Kingdom of
Saudia Arabia.
LH Cargo and Deutsche Post help Santa out
It seems that Santa Claus is having a tough time this year in delivering all the Christmas presents and festive season mail being sent from Germany to the United States. In order to ensure a
timely delivery, the Deutsche Post and Lufthansa Cargo have joined forces and have since mid-November introduced an additional LH Cargo MD-11 on the Frankfurt - New York (JFK) route. A total of
seven exclusive Deutsche Post flights will have been flown by the time the last aircraft takes off on January 3rd, 2019.
The increase in e-commerce trade and the resulting orders is bringing Deutsche Post to its limits to get parcels into New York on time during the festive season. Each of the seven charter MD-11F
flights on the FRA/JFK sector uplift 60 tons.
In other news, Lufthansa Cargo daughter company time:matters has announced that Lars Krosch will take over as Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the company. He was previously
Vice President Sales & Product Development at time:matters. He succeeds Andreas Vetter who took over the vacant COO position on an interim basis. Mr Krosch will work alongside Alexander
Kohnen who is time:matters Managing Director Strategy and Sales (CEO).
Volga-Dnepr opens Operations Base in Houston
Russia’s Volga-Dnepr Group has taken a further step to upgrade their customer service in North and South America by opening a new Operations Base at Houston’s George Bush Airport. The move is
aimed at giving Volga-Dnepr’s North and South American customers a faster and what they see as a more economic access to their range of delivery solutions.
The Group already have a sales office in Houston since 2001. The new OPS base will offer first hand expertise and services to Volga-Dnepr’s present and future clients, many of which are located
in the oil and gas, aerospace, energy and heavy machinery sectors - all of which are areas that require special logistical systems for the loading and transport of outsized cargo. The company has
decided to position one of their twelve Antonov AN-124-100 freighters in Houston, along with crews and technical support staff. The new base will also have a team of loadmasters and load planning
specialists as well as operations, navigation and ground handling experts. In addition, it is expected that up to 30 to 40 new jobs will be created as well.
Cargolux starts new transpacific route
Luxembourg-based all cargo operator, Cargolux, has launched a new B747F transpacific service which operates between Hong Kong and Mexico City. The twice weekly flights which leave HKG on Mondays
and Saturdays, arrive in Mexico City on Tuesdays and Sundays. The Monday departure also makes a commercial stopover in the Mexican city of Guadalajara. The first flight operated already on
December 10th and carried a total of 120 tons of cargo destined for Guadalajara and Mexico City.
Kevin Shek, CV’s VP Asia and Pacific stated that: “this new frequency is a great development for the region and we are delighted to have added another transpacific connection out of Hong
Kong.”
In other news Cargolux and freight forwarder Panalpina have won the first stage of Cargo iQ’s Quality Rally. the Q-Rally is an initiative which challenges members to work together by collecting
data which is geared towards improving quality in the air cargo industry. Panalpina and Cargolux were just two of 14 members who took part in the rally.
Antonov Airlines becomes Air Freight Operator of the Year
The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has named ANTONOV Airlines as Air Freight Operator of the Year in the 2018 FTA Logistics Awards ceremony in London.
The carrier which operates with a fleet of AN-124, AN22, AN26 freighters as well as the world’s largest freighter, the AN-225 ‘Mriya,’ was chosen for their ‘having demonstrated industry
leadership and excellence in the global air cargo sector.’
The Kiev-based carrier has won this category for the first time and on receiving the award Graham Witton, Managing Director ANTONOV Airlines UK stated: “this award demonstrates how our
hard-working teams remain dedicated to delivering nothing short of excellence, bolstered by our uniquely capable aircraft.”
ACS HKG celebrates 10 years
UK-based Air Charter Service has just celebrated their first decade of service in Hong Kong. The HKG office laid on a lavish party which was attended by ACS Group CEO, Justin Bowman and Group
Commercial Director, Justin Lancaster. The Asian Business Association (AsBAA) was represented at the get together by their CEO, Mike Walsh.
ACS has been arranging charters into and out of Hong Kong since 2008 for both passenger and cargo clients. The HKG cargo department has also been very active in the past decade in arranging
various relief goods flights in the region after devastating typhoons or earthquakes have hit. The Hong Kong office now counts as one of Air Charter Service’s largest offices in their worldwide
network.
Coyne Airways appoints new MD
UK-based all cargo Coyne Airways continues on the road to expansion and has now appointed Tristan Koch as their new Managing Director. Mr Koch, who will be based in London, takes up his new
positions as of 1. January 2019. he has been in the air cargo industry for the past 18 years, having held senior positions at British Airways and he moves to Coyne Airways from American Airlines
where he was Director Cargo Sales, EMEA ISC.
His responsibilities will be to take care of Coyne Airways present markets situated around the Caspian, and also the more than 50 destinations in the Middle East and Africa that Coyne Airways
serves for the past 25 years or so. Apart from the London headquarters, Coyne also has a hub in Dubai which takes care of its operations into Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and the Caspian area.
Fraport November cargo results down
Cargo down - passenger figures up! That’s the message that Germany’s largest airport operator, Fraport, gave in their November rundown.
A total of 196,537 tons of cargo passed through the airport in November. This is a 2.1 percent decrease on the same period in 2017. The decrease was put down to the growing uncertainty in global
trade. Passenger figures however showed another monthly increase. In total 5.24 million passengers went through the airport in November. An increase of 4.7 percent. The first eleven months of
2018 now show a cumulative increase of 7.8 percent on passengers handled at FRA.
The Fraport subsidiaries also continued to show satisfactory results. The only small exception was Ljubljana Airport which recorded a 3.3 percent decline.
John Mc Donagh
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