Air Freight

Lufthansa Cargo welcomes ninth B777F in Frankfurt

Published

3 weeks ago

September 30, 2020

Lufthansa Cargo

Lufthansa Cargo welcomes ninth B777F in Frankfurt. Image: Lufthansa Cargo

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A total of thirteen highly efficient Boeing 777Fs fly for the cargo crane’s customers.

The carrier’s latest Boeing 777F landed for the first time at Frankfurt Airport (FRA). The freighter with the registration D-ALFI was in flight as LH8145 for 10 hours and 10 minutes after take-off from Everett Airport (PAE) in Washington State. The new aircraft bears the name “¡Buenos días México!”, which it took over from an aircraft with the registration D-ALCH that had already been taken out of service.

Lufthansa Cargo now operates nine modern Triple Seven at its home hub in Frankfurt. In addition, the company is marketing the cargo capacity of four more aircraft of this type, which are operated by the AeroLogic joint venture based at Leipzig Airport.

“Especially in acute crises, air cargo secures important supply routes and thus makes a fundamental contribution to the global economy. Mastering short-term global challenges is one of our core competencies, countering long-term global challenges is our responsibility. With our new fleet we are underlining our claim to actively and sustainably combine economic and ecological efficiency,” said Peter Gerber, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Lufthansa Cargo.

The twin-engine Boeing 777F is around 20 per cent more efficient and emits less carbon dioxide than the preceeding MD-11F. In addition, the new model meets the strict noise protection requirements of ICAO Annex 16, Volume I, Chapter 14. Due to the higher cargo capacity and range, the same freight performance can be achieved in the future with noticeably fewer aircraft movements.

The six MD-11 freighters yet in service will be phased out over the coming months, with the first half to be phased out within this year. Lufthansa Cargo first put the eye-catching MD-11F tri-jet into service in 1998 because of its efficiency advantages. It replaced the four-engine jumbo freighters until 2005.

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Air Freight

Bengaluru Airport to record positive growth in cargo volumes

Published

1 day ago

October 21, 2020

Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru

Bengaluru Airport to record positive growth in cargo volumes. Image: KIAB

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Bengaluru Airport, Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru cargo volumes are gathering momentum with international cargo leading the recovery, following a prolonged slump due to the pandemic.

This resurgence in cargo movement powered BLR Airport to become the first metro airport in India to record growth in freight in September 2020, compared to the same period last year.

Improved connectivity and increase in Passenger to Cargo (P2C) aircraft, combined with proactive measures by Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) — operator of BLR Airport — to enable seamless processing to have pushed cargo volumes into positive territory.

In the first first two quarters of FY2020-21, between April and September, BLR Airport cargo terminals processed 131,603 MT of freight. The cargo processed in September was 32,449 MT, a growth of +0.3%, against same period last year. September 2020 witnessed a +4.5% growth in international cargo, of which export cargo grew by +7.6%. Meanwhile, domestic cargo is showing a slower recovery at -5.2% lower than the same period in the previous year.

Perishable cargo has been one of the major growth drivers, with BLR Airport having processed 17,212 MT during this period. The Airport accounted for highest exports of perishables among Indian Airports till June 2020 (source: APEDA website). It also processed 180,745 kgs of pomegranate from April to August 2020, to emerge as the leading Airport for pomegranate exports from India. The other segments driving growth are readymade garments, engineering goods, pharma and medical supplies.

The introduction of our road feeder service – LOGI Connect – to link cities like Tirupur, Coimbatore, Ambur, Salem, Erode, Hyderabad and Chennai further augmented growth, powering BLR Airport’s all-India market share of air cargo from 11% to 14%.

Before the pandemic, around 60% of domestic and international freight was being carried in belly space of passenger aircraft and the remainder in freighters. With the reduction in passenger flights due to restrictions, several airlines – both domestic and international – converted P2C aircraft , enabling the availability of a larger amount of cargo capacity. As a result, BLR Airport saw the growth of cargo aircraft movements by 139% against the previous year.

While Q2 witnessed a 46% growth in ATMs against Q1, the total tonnage, too, improved by 84%.

Air Freight

Mearsk’s first air freight service launched

Published

1 week ago

October 14, 2020

Maersk

Mearsk's first air freight service launched . Image: Maersk

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With the first of the multiple chartered airplanes moved cargoes for a leading tyre manufacturer from Thailand to Japan on October 11th, Maersk’s product portfolio has been successfully expanded to air freight. This marks the concrete development after Damco’s Air services combined with Maersk’s logistics and services products as of early October, to complement Maersk’s end-to-end offering for clients around the world.

When getting the urgent shipment request from the customer, Maersk’s team quickly re-searched options and recommended movement via air charter solution. The team secured the best suitable aircraft while optimising and maximizing the load on each flight to meet its shipments transit, cost and dimensional requirements.

Rupesh Jain, Managing Director of Maersk Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore commented on this achievement,

“I’m extremely proud of the Maersk team who came together in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore to mount air solution for one of our key clients needing urgent and tailor-made solution to meet its promise to their client. The team worked around the clock with the client as well as our supplier partner to ensure an effective and cost-efficient solution. The shipment was delivered to the customer in time without any issue. It also demonstrates our ambition to become the integrator of container logistics with value-added services to our customers.”

“It’s very fulfilling to be able to provide a truly integrated solution for our customers. With 11 air charters in place for this client, we are keeping its supply chain intact! We have provided our existing ocean customer with extended land-side services, and by offering this air solution, we have truly completed the transportation mode circle,” says Hean Chun Goh, Auto, Electronic and Tech Vertical Head, Maersk Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

With the new capacity in air freight services, Maersk can manage time critical, oversized or high value freight transportation dedicatedly. By combining the speed of air with the cost savings of other modes, customers will be able to reduce inventory and improve their service offerings by fast response time at an affordable price.

Air Freight

JAL and Matternet to launch drone delivery business partnership in Japan

Published

3 weeks ago

September 28, 2020

Japan Airlines

JAL and Matternet to launch drone delivery business partnership in Japan. Image: JAL

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Matternet M2 drone system to be deployed in Tokyo’s new drone logistics project and utilized to assess drone delivery healthcare opportunities in Japan

Japan Airlines and Matternet signed an MOU to assess drone delivery healthcare opportunities and develop a future drone healthcare delivery business in Japan utilizing Matternet’s world-leading M2 urban drone logistics platform.

Due to the lack of delivery personnel and the impact of the global pandemic, the necessity to respond to changes in the logistics industry has become more urgent than ever before and the use of drones may help realize automatic, contactless delivery services on remote islands, mountainous areas and even within the city.

Since last year, JAL has been conducting demonstrations on transporting relief supplies through various trials within Japan. Currently, in order to develop logistics services using drones, JAL is studying the feasibility for the commercialization of such services with various companies and hospitals. Through this partnership, Matternet will conduct a joint research project with JAL in Japan, as the company continues to expand its commercial business globally. Further, JAL will consider to deploy the Matternet M2 drone system in the drone logistics business development project of Tokyo to possibly develop a sustainable business model.

Matternet is the leading developer of on-demand, autonomous, urban drone logistics systems for transporting medical items across distributed healthcare networks, providing its technology platform-as-a-service to healthcare and logistics organizations. Matternet has launched successful drone networks around the world and received regulatory approval from the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation and U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to conduct fully-autonomous Beyond Line of Sight operations and Flights Over People to transport critical, high-value medical items. To date, Matternet technology has enabled 10,000+ commercial revenue drone flights.

“We are very excited to expand our operations to Asia and partner with JAL to show the incredible impact of drone delivery to Japan’s cities, starting with the Tokyo metropolitan area,” said Andreas Raptopoulos, CEO of Matternet. “Matternet’s drone delivery platform enables extremely fast and predictable transport of urgent items and stands to revolutionize how healthcare and e-commerce are delivered in cities and megacities around the world.”

“Japan Airlines is eager to explore the future of its air logistics business with the implementation of drone delivery,” said Tomohiro Nishihata, Japan Airlines’ Managing Executive Officer of Innovation. “We aim to contribute to improving healthcare and solving logistics issues through our partnership with Matternet.”

JAL aims to develop a new type of service in the air transportation industry, utilizing new UAV technology, by delivering the operational platform in New Air mobility and achieve key sustainable development goals.