Brussels Airport CEO condemns “cowardly and heinous acts”

Brussels Airport has released a statement expressing its “deepest sympathy with victims and relatives” after two explosions at the Belgian gateway this morning left 11 dead and more than a hundred injured. The airport’s chief executive officer, Arnaud Feist says: “On behalf of the entire airport community, I would like to extend our warmest condolences to […]

Two explosions at Brussels Airport – as many as 13 feared dead

Two explosions at Brussels Airport this morning and as many as 13 are feared dead and more than 30 are severely injured, media outlets are reporting. Reuters says the airport explosions were set off by a suicide bomber, the Belgian broadcaster VRT reports. It adds shots were fired and there were shouts in Arabic shortly before the airport […]

Jet Airways expands network with flights to Schiphol

Jet Airways has enhanced connectivity between India, Europe and North America with launch of daily Amsterdam Airport Schiphol bellyhold flights. Effective from 27 March 2016, the Indian carrier will operate two daily non-stop flights from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, one each to its hubs in Mumbai and New Delhi. Jet says there are benefits for cargo […]

German airports see 0.3% tonnage rise in February

German airport saw a cargo tonnage rise of 0.3 per cent in February compared to the same month in 2015, handling 340,418 tonnes, according to the Germany Airports Association ADV. The association says cargo throughput for the third consecutive month was positive, but at a low level. ADV explains: “In the developments of imports and projections […]

Lufthansa Cargo sees decline in volumes and earnings in 2015

Lufthansa Cargo saw a 2.3 per cent decline in the amount of cargo it carried in 2015 and EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) fell a massive 97.6 per cent, it has revealed at its annual results in Berlin today. The German airline handled 1.63 million tonnes last year, down on the 1.66 million in […]

Lufthansa Group profits up in 2015, but cargo weak

The Lufthansa Group increased profit significantly in 2015 and generated revenues of 32.1 billion euros – a 6.8 per cent rise. The Adjusted EBIT, the leading indicator of economic success, increased by 55 per cent to 1.8 billion euros and the result sits within the forecast range defined last October, and includes the 100 million euros […]

Brussels organises largest horse transport on European flight

Brussels Airport and Intradco Global have transported 86 horses to the Middle East – the largest export of horses on one aircraft from Europe. The mixture of Warmbloods and Arabian horses yesterday, travelled in one of the largest cargo aircraft in operation – a Boeing 747-400 Freighter. Brussels Airport head of cargo, Steven Polmans says: […]

IATA WCS: Heathrow launches WebPortal to reduce freight trucks emissions

Heathrow Airport has revealed new plans for a WebPortal aimed at consolidating freight loads, and decreasing the amount of trucks and emissions on roads around the airport. Encouraging freight company partners to operate sustainably is one of ten priorities Heathrow has outlined for this year in its new Blueprint to Reduce Emissions, which was also […]

IATA WCS: Jettainer tests self-learning software for ULD management

Jettainer and the University of Cologne are conducting a live test on management software for big data in the movement of unit load devices (ULD) that they have jointly developed. They says this is designed to illustrate how well the software can support the company’s controllers by offering them assistance in making decisions as a result of […]

Aircargo Club Deutschland urges change in Germany

Aircargo Club Deutschland has urged the need for rapid introduction of digitisation in supply chains and it says the airfreight in Germany is in need of innovations. Representatives say there too little readiness on the part of the German airfreight sector to introduce innovations, which clearly “visible in international competition”. The club says South East Asia […]

IATA WCS: German government urged to improve air transport competitiveness

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has urged the German government to focus on improving the competitiveness of the German air transport sector in the development of its national aviation policy. Speaking at IATA’s World Cargo Symposium today in Berlin, the association’s direct general and chief executive officer, Tony Tyler says: “Aviation supports the German […]

IATA WCS: calls for continued transformation in air cargo industry

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called for continued transformation in the air cargo industry with a focus on raising the quality of its offering at the opening of the 10th annual World Cargo Symposium (WCS) in Berlin. The association says global air cargo sector continues to face a difficult business environment. The anemic […]

India a challenging market for Swiss

India is a challenging market, with a lot of competition, particularly from Middle Eastern carriers, Swiss WorldCargo’s head of cargo Africa, Middle East & India, Shankar Iyer tells Air Cargo Week (ACW). Iyer tells ACW: “India is a highly price conscious market, which demands high service with low costs. One of the main challenges is […]

India pivotal for IAG Cargo

India plays a pivotal role in the IAG Cargo network, with the growing pharmaceutical business offering valuable business opportunities, regional commercial manager Asia Pacific, John Cheetham tells Air Cargo Week. As part of the government’s ‘Make in India’ programme, India hopes to be the third largest pharmaceutical market by 2020, making up 20 per cent […]

Ethiopian Airlines Cargo returns to Brussels Airport

Ethiopian Airlines Cargo is set to operate 12 full cargo flights a week out of Brussels Airport starting from 26 March. The airport has been conducting intensive talks with the carrier about returning to Brussels Airport after the Federal Government had inked a new bilateral agreement with Ethiopia, enabling the carrier to undertake direct flights from […]

Lufthansa Cargo expands freighter network

Lufthansa Cargo is adding countless new routes to its freighter network by adding destinations and upping frequencies when the summer schedule begins on 27 March. A weekly freighter service to Moscow is one new addition to the schedule. An MD-11F has already been flying every Monday since March from Frankfurt to Domodedovo Airport, before connecting the Russian capital […]

Third runway a must in Munich

Construction of a third runway at Munich Airport is paramount to achieving cargo growth for the airport and Germany in the years ahead. The gateway’s director of traffic development for cargo, Markus Heinelt explains to Air Cargo Week future success depends on implementation of the project, which is awaiting approval by the airport’s shareholders. “Global […]

Malpensa passes the 500,000 tonne mark for 1st time

Milan Malpensa Airport passed the 500,000 tonnes mark for the first time in its history last year, with two years of strong growth. SEA Milano, the operator of Malpensa, says the gateway increased its share of the Italian market from 53 per cent to 55 per cent in 2015 helped by traffic that would have […]

IATA: Volumes up but load factors keep falling

Freight tonne kilometres (FTK) in January rose by 2.7 per cent but load factors continue to fall suggesting yields will come under further pressure, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The association says the January result continues the growth seen towards the end of 2015 and is the fastest it has been since […]

European airports making up for struggles of 2015

Freight volumes at European airports have got off to a strong start in 2016, up 3.5 per cent in January, making up for the struggles of 2015, Airports Council International (ACI) Europe says. The 3.5 per cent year-on-year growth was above the 2015 global average of 2.2 per cent. The association says the strong result […]

UPS appoints new Asia Pacific and Europe presidents

UPS has announced management changes, with Nando Cesarone taking over as president for the Europe Region, Ross McCullough president for the Asia Pacific Region, and Cindy Miller taking over as president of UPS Global Freight Forwarding. Cesarone, a Canadian citizen who has worked at UPS for 25 years will be responsible for the 56 countries […]

Air Cargo India: Lufthansa Cargo eyeing Indian network development

Lufthansa Cargo is eyeing up adding a new freighter frequency into Delhi to reap the rewards of the growing market by adding to the once a week service it now operates. Speaking at a media briefing at Air Cargo India in Mumbai yesterday, the German carrier’s board member for product and sales Alexis von Hoensbroech, […]

Marseille expects North African growth

Volumes at Marseille Provence Airport remained the same in 2015 but cargo manager, Jean-Marc Boutigny is expecting strong growth for 2016, helped by increased services to North Africa. Boutigny tells Air Cargo Week that in 2015, airfreight fell two per cent to 52,000 tonnes, mail remained the same at 3,900 tonnes and road feeder service […]

Bordeaux-Merignac Airport upgrades airfreight facilities

Bordeaux-Merignac Airport has upgraded its infrastructure so it can handle freight “of plant and animal origin”. The French gateway says areas dedicated to phytosanitary and veterinary inspections are now open. Bordeaux Airport has for many years been an approved European Union Border Inspection Post (BIP) for imports of plants and products of animal origin. It says it wanted […]

Subdued growth in emerging markets hit airfreight in 2015, ACI says

Air cargo markets were “substantially weaker” in 2015 compared to passenger figures with a modest 2.3 per cent growth in total freight, according to the Airports Council International (ACI). The association says this was largely due to subdued growth in emerging markets and developing economies, along with a more modest recovery in advanced economies. ACI […]

Great start for AirBridgeCargo but challenges ahead

AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) has reported a steady start to 2016 with a 30 per cent year-on-year rise in tonnage in January, which it says was a record performance and growth for the first month of the year. In January, ABC transported 43,605 tonnes of cargo onboard its Boeing freighter fleet serving major markets in Europe, […]

TNT reports revenue rise of 3.5% in 2015

TNT has reported that revenues rose 3.5 per cent to 6.9 billion euros ($7.7 billion) in 2015, which was an increase on the 6.6 billion euros in 2014. Operating income was 38 million compared to an operating loss of 86 million euros in 2014. Progress was made on many fronts, the Dutch express courier says. […]

Kenyan flowers in demand from North America

Many will be out buying roses for loved ones this weekend for Valentine’s Day on Sunday and they could well be Kenyan flowers, which are in high demand, notably from North America. IAG Cargo says there is a blossoming trade for Kenyan flower growers and initial figures show flower volumes destined for the US have increased over […]

Heathrow Airport posts January cargo surge

Heathrow Airport saw a surge of 2.9 per cent in cargo volumes in January – which was driven by Mexico and China, both up 28 per cent and Turkey, up 16 per cent. The airport handled 119,214 tonnes in the month. On a 12-month rolling basis freight is down 0.2 per cent, and 1.5 million […]

Swiss WorldCargo to up e-AWB efforts

Swiss WorldCargo says it has been intensifying its efforts to adopt the new electronic air waybill (e-AWB). The Switzerland carrier is one of a number of International Air Transport Association (IATA) carriers that have taken the lead in the e-AWB 360 campaign, and have committed to offering e-AWB under the ‘Single Process’ concept at a number of […]