Addressing gaps in pharma logistics the key to growth

There is no disputing the substantial growth of high-yield pharmaceutical traffic, but as more and more players join the bandwagon, are pharma shippers getting all they bargained for? Donald Urquhart writes. With an estimated $12 billion currently being spent on cold chain biopharma logistics, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasts this figure will rise […]

Cathay Pacific to launch Brussels, Copenhagen and Dublin flights

Cathay Pacific is to increase services to Europe in 2018 with flights to Dublin, Brussels and Copenhagen. Brussels will be the first airport to gain a new link with four Airbus A350-900 flights a week from 25 March operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. These flights will leave Hong Kong at 00.35h and land […]

Cathay Pacific flies into HK$2 billion loss in first half of 2017

Cathay Pacific has made a loss of two billion Hong Kong dollars ($255 million) in the first half of 2017, with intense competition and higher costs creating “difficult operating conditions”. The loss compares to a HK$353 million profit in the same period of 2016, with costs for Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon increasing considerably. Fuel […]

Second quarter profits double at Atlas Air

Second quarter profits at Atlas Air have almost doubled to $38.9 million with all business segments seeing strong growth. Net income for the period is up from $20.5 million in 2016 and net income for the first half is up from $21 million in 2016 to $38.2 million this year, while total operating revenue rose […]

Cargo remains strong at Cathay Pacific with 12.8% growth in June

Cargo volumes at Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon have remained strong with cargo and mail volumes growing 12.8 per cent in June. The two airlines carried 170,476 tonnes in June, and revenue tonne kilometres were up by 11.3 per cent to 974,353 million. Capacity increased by 4.8 per cent in June to 1.4 billion available […]

Gatwick Airport revenue increases 7.7% and long-haul network grows

Revenue at Gatwick Airport increased 7.7 per cent for the year ending 31 March 2017, with cargo volumes up 15.9 per cent. Revenue hit £725 million ($931.8 million) with EBITDA rising 12.9 per cent to £373.6 million, and profit before tax was £131.8 million. Gatwick Airport chief executive officer, Stewart Wingate says: “It has been […]

Tonnage surges 11.5% in May for Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon combined carried 161,743 tonnes of cargo and mail in May, an increase of 11.5 per cent compared to the same month last year. The cargo and mail load factor rose by 4.1 percentage points to 66.3 per cent. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was up by 1.2 per […]

IATA reports e-AWB penetration rate up 1.3% in April

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says the electronic air waybill (e-AWB) penetration rate was 50.7 per cent in April. This is still well below the 62 per cent target by December this year, but up 1.3 per cent on the previous month. IATA says the volume of e-AWBs was 730,762 in the month, which […]

Cool chain investments being made by LUG in Germany

LUG aircargo handling is building a health care centre at its Frankfurt Airport station to meet the growing demands of the pharmaceutical sector. LUG handles freight for 16 carriers at Frankfurt and a further eight at Munich Airport, which it is also eventually looking to develop cool chain facilities at. Speaking to Air Cargo Week […]

Sky Gates Cargo Airlines grows fleet by adding a B747F

After launching services between Russia, Europe and The Far East at the end of last year Sky Gates Cargo Airlines is going to increase their freighter fleet with another Boeing 747-400 Freighter. Senior vice president, Nidjat Babayev, responsible for the commercial development, says the next aircraft is going to be delivered by mid-June. It will be […]

Cathay Pacific makes 600 redundant and scraps cargo director role

Cathay Pacific has reorganised its head office and made around 600 people redundant in Hong Kong and has also restructured the cargo department. The Asian carrier says in line with the reorganisaition it will “streamline” the structure by removing the role of cargo director. Last month, Cathay Pacific revealed that Simon Large was leaving his role as director […]

Hogg to replace Chu as CEO of Cathay Pacific

Rupert Hogg is to take over as chief executive officer of Cathay Pacific, taking over from Ivan Chu on 1 May 2017. Hogg will be promoted from Cathay Pacific chief operating officer, following Chu’s appointment as John Swire & Sons (China) chairman, where he will play a leading role in the group’s Mainland China investment […]

Cargo revenue falls 13% as Cathay Pacific makes a loss in 2016

Cathay Pacific Group made a loss of 575 million Hong Kong dollars ($74 million) in 2016 due to factors including increased competition and cargo overcapacity. The loss compared to a profit of HK$6 billion in 2015 with revenue falling 9.4 per cent to HK$92.7 billion with other airlines increasing capacity, reduced economic growth in China […]

2016 was tough, but Lufthansa Cargo optimistic for 2017

Last year was challenging for Lufthansa Cargo, but the German carrier is optimistic 2017 will be a lot better. Falling yields, overcapacity battles, pilot strikes and other challenges negatively impacted business for the German carrier in 2016. Head of PR and internal communications, Andreas Pauker says 2016 was “primarily a difficult year in a challenging […]

Increasing connectivity boosts tonnage at Gatwick Airport

Tonnage at London’s Gatwick Airport continues to climb and it grew six per cent in February reaching 5,965 tonnes for the month as new long-haul routes drive growth. This was up on the 5,628 tonnes that was achieved in the same month last year as the gateway’s volumes are boosted by better connectivity. On a […]

Solid start to 2017 for Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific Airways has had a strong start to 2017 with cargo and mail up 2.3 per cent to 151,133 tonnes, with strong demand across key Asian markets. The combined growth for Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon in January is slower than the 9.9 per cent year-on-year surge seen in December but was described as […]

Optimism in the air for a strong 2017 in Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s air cargo industry is cautiously optimistic about the coming year as it digests changes ahead of new infrastructure set to underline its hub status, writes Michael Mackey. Supporting this optimism are good figures for 2016 as the territory is blessed not just with a first class airport but also top notch road links […]

Tonnage growth of 4.1% at Halifax Stanfield in 2016

Halifax Stanfield International Airport saw cargo growth of 4.1 per cent in 2016 compared to 2015. The Canadian gateway handled 33,329 tonnes and says much of that freight was Nova Scotian lobster It estimates $187 million (Canadian dollars) of seafood and lobster exports were shipped from Halifax Stanfield in 2016 up approximately $40 million from 2015. As […]

Tonnage rise of 1.8% in 2016 for Rickenbacker

Rickenbacker International Airport in the US state of Ohio handled more than 91,000 tonnes in 2016, a 1.8 per cent rise on 2015. The gateway has seen 16 per cent increase in international cargo, which makes up 40 per cent of Rickenbacker’s tonnage, while the other was domestic, down six per cent. FedEx moved 43 per cent of the […]

Volumes and yields predicted to grow in 2017

2016 has been a year of two halves, with a tough first half, but improvements in the second, Cathay Pacific general manager cargo sales & marketing, Mark Sutch (pictured below) tells Air Cargo Week staff writer, James Muir. Last year had an exceptional start, helped by the US West coast seaport disruption before tapering off […]

Air China Cargo bans shark fin cargo

Air China Cargo has become the first mainland Chinese carrier to ban the transportation of shark fin as cargo as says it wants to play a role in a “more sustainable world”. More than 30 airlines have now joined the ban globally as the pressure has been growing on them to impose the ban on the […]

Strong exports help Cathay Pacific grow 4.6% in November

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair’s cargo and mail volumes grew 4.6 per cent in November helped by strong exports and more ocean-to-air conversions. The two airlines carried 167,520 tonnes of cargo and mail in November, and the load factor rose by 1.1 percentage points to 68.1 per cent. Capacity in available tonne kilometres was down 1.9 […]

Gatwick’s cargo recovery continues with 12% growth in November

Gatwick Airport’s recovery continues in November with volumes rising by 12.2 per cent to 8,099 tonnes as long-haul services expand. On a moving annual total, cargo volumes rose by 3.9 per cent to 77,129 tonnes as it welcomes new routes to locations across Asia, the Americas and Africa. Connections with Asia will expand further in […]

Cathay Pacific to increase Gatwick and Manchester services

Cathay Pacific is to increase UK services with daily flights to Gatwick Airport and five flights a week to Manchester Airport from June. The airline launched four Airbus A350-900 flights a week to Gatwick in September, and will make the service daily from 1 June to cater for demand. The outbound flight will leave Hong […]

e-AWB penetration rate some way off IATA’s target

The electronic air waybill (e-AWB) penetration rate for October was 44.7 per cent – still some way of the 2016 year-end target of 56 per cent set by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Next year’s target penetration rate also looks like a tough one to hit, as IATA’s head of cargo, Glyn Hughes (pictured […]

Cathay Pacific flight diverted due to fears of cargo hold fire

A Cathay Pacific flight from London to Hong Kong had to divert to Novosibirsk over fears of a fire in the cargo hold. The airline says flight number CX250 from Heathrow Airport to Hong Kong International Airport diverted to Novosibirsk International Airport in Russia around six hours into the flight after a signal indicated a […]

Brisbane Wellcamp positions itself to become Australasian cargo hub

Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport is well positioned to become an Australian air cargo hub as other airports struggle with landing slots and limited land availability, cargo and government relations manager, Sara Hales tells staff writer James Muir. The airport in Southern Queensland is located in one of Australia’s most productive agricultural regions, and has been […]

CHAMP kits out Cathay Pacific with its Cargospot suite

CHAMP Cargosystems has successfully implemented its Cargospot suite for Cathay Pacific’s worldwide cargo operations. The software has been customised for Cathay Pacific and has been further enhanced with CHAMP’s Business Intelligence tools. The two companies are now working on replacing the airline’s cargo revenue accounting systems with Cargospot Revenue, and a new air mail solution […]

Strong September for Cathay as tonnage up 7.1%

Cathay Pacific Airways had a strong September as Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a combined 162,116 tonnes of cargo and mail, a year-on-year (YOY) surge of 7.1 per cent on the amount handled in the same month in 2015. The cargo and mail load factor also rose by 2.6 percentage points to 65 per cent […]

IATA e-AWB penetration target still some way off

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says the electronic air waybill (e-AWB) penatration rate reached 40.5 per cent in August. This is still some way below the target it set of 56 per cent by the end of the year, and a 0.9 per cent increase on July, when the penetration rate was 39.6 per […]