The 13th edition of the Brussels Airport Aviation Awards, held last Wednesday at the Brussels Sheraton Hotel, highlighted the contribution of all types of operations to the development of the airport as an air cargo hub. The airport bestows these awards to reward those airlines and partners that have distinguished themselves over the preceding year in terms of network and cargo development, environment and safety, punctuality and performance.
Qatar Airways Cargo won the Performance Award Cargo Airline, intended for airlines that have contributed most to the development of BRUcargo. The company flies 8 times a week between Brussels and Doha. The other nominees were Asiana Cargo, Emirates Cargo, Ethiopian Airlines Cargo and Singapore Airlines Cargo.
Competing for The BRUcargo Award, honoring partners from the BRUcargo area, were Brinks, Cathay Pacific Cargo, and Nallian, the latter winning for its further development of the BRUcloud
platform. To CargoForwarder Global, Nallian CEO Jean Verheyen said that the award was seen as the result of 4 years of hard work together with the airport and Air Cargo Belgium.
“Technology is only one piece of the puzzle, so you have to take all components into account. It takes time for a community system to take off and the pressure from the airlines was growing
against the background of the likes of Alibaba and Amazon. I always like to compare this approach to a relay race. In the end the race is won by all the runners, not by the individual ones.”
David vs Goliath
CEO Jeff Segers of family-owned freight forwarding company, Skyfast, was extremely pleased to have won the Logistics Providers Award for the development of live animal transport at the airport.
“Winning against Bpost, DSV, Freight4you, and Nippon Express was a surprise. Within the ongoing context of upscaling, the only thing you can do as a small company is look for
niches.”
For Skyfast, set up in 1982, these are live animals, AOG (spare parts and materials for aircraft repair) and other airline-related material, such as food trolleys and the like. “We specialize
in everything that the others won’t touch. We are something like the dustbin of BRUcargo,” says Mr Segers.
Turkish Cargo
Turkish Cargo received the Network Development Award Cargo Airline for its strong growth at BRU. The initial once weekly A300 flight to Istanbul was upgraded to three flights per week, operated
using a larger A330F.
Senior Vice-President Cargo, Cornelis Paul de Man, said that the award was yet another proof that the chosen strategy for a strong fleet, a brand-new airport built near Istanbul and –soon – the
largest air cargo hub in the world, catches on. “Together these will further dynamize and professionalize the global supply chain.” Turkish Cargo’s competitors for this award were
Avianca Cargo and Sichuan Cargo. Aviapartner and DHL won the Environment Award and Safety Award respectively.
Marcel Schoeters in Brussels
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