SHORT SHOTS

IN BRIEF - THE LATEST AIR CARGO INDUSTRY NEWS

EL AL ceases B747F operations
EL AL Israel Airlines which has been operating B747-400 freighter services since 2010 has decided to phase out the aircraft and to compensate have formed a partnership with AirBridgeCargo Airlines and ASL Airlines.
The company reports that during the nine years of their B747F operations that they have flown a total of 275,000 tons - which gave an average utilization of around 2,500 tons per month. The last flight was between Liege and Tel Aviv where the aircraft was then handed back to the lessor. The new partnership with ASL and AirBridgeCargo was celebrated at a special event held recently at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport attended among others by the Russian Ambassador to Israel, ABC’s CEO Sergey Lazarev and EL AL Chairman Eli Defes. It has not yet been revealed as to which routes will be operated for EL AL in the new partnership although it is reported that the carrier would like to introduce services to Moscow, using ABC aircraft.

Cargolux ups Xiamen flights
The Luxembourg-based all cargo carrier, Cargolux, has announced that as of 1. July, they have added a third weekly B747F service to the Chinese city of Xiamen. The aircraft departs Luxembourg on Monday mornings and arrives in Xiamen early Tuesday morning. The return flight is routed across the Pacific to Los Angeles before returning to Luxembourg.
CV has been operating regular services to Xiamen since 2006 and the third frequency provides the only direct freighter flight between Xiamen and the USA. On this sector to Los Angeles the aircraft will mainly carry garments and electronic goods.

Ethiopian Cargo starts to Chongqing
Addis Ababa-based Ethiopian Cargo which has established itself over the past few years as Africa’s number one passenger and cargo airline, has now added a new Boeing 777F service to the large Chinese city of Chongqing.
The return flight from Chongqing routes via Shanghai and Delhi to Addis Ababa. From there it continues onto Lagos, Sao Paulo, Quito and Miami. This new service gives Chinese exporters access to African, South American and North American markets via Addis Ababa.
Ethiopian Cargo continues to expand their freighter operations as part of the carrier’s Vision 2025 planning. The aim is to have nineteen dedicated freighters in operation by then, serving almost 60 destinations around the world.

Swissport pushes pharma handling ahead at BRU
Ground handler Swissport aims to take its cargo service delivery at Belgium’s Zaventem Airport to the next level by operating a state-of-the-art cargo facility. The premises will consist of a 25,000 sqm warehouse, a four-story office building for Swissport and its customers and dedicated pharma space of 2,620 sqm. Additional-ly, a 1,000 sqm cooling facility (+2° to +8°C) will be available for customers. With its new end-to-end cool chain, Swissport intends to further grow its share in the phar-ma air transport business in Brussels as well as worldwide, reads their press re-lease. “Our new warehouse and the state-of-the-art Swissport Pharma Center will be the benchmark for modern and efficient air cargo and pharma logistics,” says Luzius Wirth, Executive Vice President Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) for Swissport. “The investment underlines our commitment to the Belgian market. In parallel we are working to improve the profitability of our Belgian business activities in order to cre-ate long-term job security for our staff.”
The building is being constructed by Brussels Airport Company and will be opera-tional in about 1.5 years from today. Swissport has signed a long-term lease and is investing several million euros in equipment and fittings for the new facility. The company handles more than 550,000 tons of cargo annually in Belgium and em-ploys some 2,000 staff in the country. The global tonnage handled by Swissport amounted to 4.8 million tons in 2018.

Fraport cargo figures drop again
Germany’s largest airport operator Fraport has published their June and first half-year results. Whereas the passenger business continues to flourish, the air cargo figures dropped considerably in June of this year.
Fraport cargo throughput at Frankfurt Airport dropped by 4.7% last month to just 174,392 tons. In their statement Fraport put the blame for this on the continuing weak global economy as well as two public holidays which fell in June this year. The cumulative air cargo figure from January to June was 1.1 million tons which represents an almost -3% drop compared to the first half-year 2018.
Passenger figures at FRA rose by 3% to reach 33.6 million for the period January to June. Fraport’s other international Group activities which are mainly related to the passenger business, almost all performed well during June and the first six months.