WFS takes 20-year lease on Heathrow site

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December 23, 2025

Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), a SATS company, has won a competitive tender to lease a new, built-to-suit 11,000sq m air cargo facility at London Heathrow Airport, expected to be fully operational during 2027.

WFS will install a four level, 220 position pallet and container handling system with two elevating transfer vehicle that together with other features will give an annual handling capacity of over 160,000 tonnes.

The 20-year lease on the new facility, located on Southampton Road will reinforce WFS’ position as the largest cargo handler at Heathrow, says WFS.

In 2024, 1.58m tonnes of cargo moved through Heathrow – up 10% year-on-year – with a value of £215.6bn, making it the largest UK port by value. Airlines operating to and from Heathrow serve 230 destinations globally in 85 countries and regions and carry over 72% of all UK air cargo by value.

WFS’ own volumes were 28% higher in the first six months of 2025 versus 2024, due to airline contract wins and organic growth by existing carriers.

WFS managing director UK, Chris Beale, said: “Heathrow is literally flying from a cargo perspective, so it is imperative that we can provide the physical infrastructure to process these growing volumes. This new lease is an important part of this strategy and reflects WFS long-term commitment to Heathrow and its airline and cargo customers.”

WFS currently handles over 350,000 tonnes annually for 12 major airlines at eight facilities at Heathrow with a total footprint of nearly 44,000sq m including its latest customers, Air India and Riyadh Air. The new development will enable WFS to meet the growth requirements of its existing customers and provide capacity to serve more airlines.

As well as supporting WFS’ sustainability goals, the Southampton Road warehouse will incorporate dedicated handling facilities for special cargoes, including valuable, pharmaceutical, perishable, express and dangerous goods shipments. It will also handle outsize cargoes, such as cars and aero engines.

WFS expects the new cargo terminal to create up to 100 new jobs at Heathrow when it opens in 2027.

Fur flies with Emirates SkyCargo

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Chris Lewis

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December 22, 2025

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Emirates, the world’s largest international airline, helps keep families connected all over the world and its SkyCargo arm pays special attention to their furry and feathery members.

In 2025, Emirates SkyCargo transported over 14,600 cats, dogs and other domestic pets– an average of 40 a day. Globetrotting critters travelled all over the airline’s network, with the top cities including London, Melbourne, Glasgow, Cape Town, Paris, Mumbai, Toronto and, of course, Dubai. Over 1,000 pets made a ultra-long haul relocation flights from the UK to Australia or New Zealand, and another 100 travelled even further, leaving the snowy tundra of Canada for the outback of Australia.

Emirates SkyCargo offers a bespoke Pet solution. Fully compliant with IATA’s Live Animal Regulations (LAR), the service is safe, comfortable and reliable, with Emirates on-board hospitality. All animals departing, arriving or transiting through Dubai, are hosted at a dedicated Pet Lounge, that offers a calm and relaxing space to unwind, with 24/7 animal care specialists on-site to offer exercise, cleaning, feeding, and cuddles on demand. Specially designed vehicles chauf-fur* pets between the lounge and aircraft, and ensure they are last on and first off, like all VIP flyersAll facilities, aircraft and ground vehicles are temperature-controlled to enable comfortable travel, even in Dubai’s summer months.

Emirates SkyCargo senior vice president of product and innovation, Dennis Lister, said: “As a team of pet parents ourselves we have designed a solution that prioritises each animal’s comfort, safety and care at every step of their journey. Across our vast global network, we deliver a consistent service underpinned by expert teams of specialists and world-class infrastructure to offer peace of mind to our customers – both the animals and their human companions. We will continue to invest in our solution and operations to deliver an outstanding experience.”

For larger creatures, the airline’s Equine solution uses purpose-designed stalls with adjustable roofs, ventilation covers to control light and temperature and onboard hay nets, shavings and water. At Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC), it 45 horse stalls and a permanent horse ramp to allow horses to transfer from the ground transport vehicle to the horse stall easily and mitigate any risk of injury.

Emirates SkyCargo also participates in wildlife rescue missions. This year, it transported four lion cubs from a life in captivity into a sanctuary in South Africa, where they are now able to roam freely in a protected environment. The airline continues its longstanding campaign to keep wildlife wild, taking a zero-tolerance stand against illegal wildlife trafficking and the carriage of all hunting trophies, even where permissible by law.

*ACV cannot be held responsible for any puns that Emirates’ PR department choose to make

Air Transat flies from Toronto to Istanbul

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Chris Lewis

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December 22, 2025

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Air Transat has launched passenger flights between Istanbul and Toronto, the ninth new airline to start services from the Turkish gateway in 2025, and bring the total of scheduled passenger airlines now operating to 116.

It will operate year-round with Airbus A330-200 aircraft, from Toronto on Tuesdays, Saturdays, with an additional Thursday flight from May 2026, and in the return direction on Wednesdays, Sundays, with an additional Friday flight from May 2026.

DPD partners with Mark 3 for US-bound traffic

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Chris Lewis

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December 19, 2025

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Parcels firm DPD UK, part of the Geopost Group, has partnered with leading ecommerce logistics company Mark 3 International to help it navigate the new US import regulations, including the recent changes to de minimis exemptions.

It will focus on DPD UK’s US destination traffic with Mark 3 providing support for brokerage, B2C, B2B and DDU requirements.

During the last year, including Mark 3 opened a12,000 sq ft facility at New York JFK airport and plans to open a similar facility at Los Angeles airport.

DPD UK director of International, Darren Lawrence said: “We were very impressed with Mark 3’s expertise in the US logistics market. They helped us when the de minimis changes were introduced and we knew they could provide DPD UK with a solution that is best for our customers and is flexible enough to cope with the turbulent global trade environment in which we all operate.

“We are confident our US traffic will be handled efficiently and with the customer’s best interests at heart, which is the most important thing for us.”

Mark 3 chief executive, Matthew Ware, CEO at Mark 3, added: “At Mark 3, our approach is simple – customers need tailor-made solutions to navigate increasingly complex trading environments, especially when exporting to the US. As a result, we’re committed to understanding the specific requirements of each customer, and offering an outcome that best serves their needs instead of applying a blanket approach that is inflexible and inefficient, especially when global circumstances change. Our investment in infrastructure, tools and processes, means we can offer the best possible solution for anyone wanting to ship to the US.”

Hactl IT gains security standard

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Chris Lewis

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December 19, 2025

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Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl) has become the first operator in its region to receive the ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification for its COSAC-Plus system and its supporting IT infrastructure. ISO/IEC 27001 is an internationally recognised standards for Information Security Management Systems, providing organisations with a mature framework of policies, processes, and controls designed to safeguard the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. Achieving the certification required extensive intra- and inter-departmental collaboration and re-prioritisation of planned projects and initiatives across the company to ensure total compliance.

The standard emphasises ongoing evaluation and continuous improvement and maintaining certification will require continuous effort, including ensuring Hactl aligns with evolving cybersecurity best practices, regular internal audits and annual external audits alongside continuous monitoring and enhancement of security controls.

Air France KLM renews DHL SAF deal

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Chris Lewis

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December 18, 2025

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Air France KLM Martinair Cargo has partnered again with DHL Global Forwarding to advance the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Building on the their initial 2022–24 agreement, both organizations have signed a new three-year framework contract covering 2025–2027. For 2025 alone, the partnership includes a reduction target of 35,000 tons of CO₂-equivalent, and the largest annual SAF partnership AFKLMP Cargo has signed to date. Additional SAF volumes and related emissions reductions for 2026 and 2027 will be defined as the partnership progresses.

DHL has embedded SAF into its GoGreen Plus service and has enabled its customers to make measurable progress toward their science-based carbon-reduction targets.

Flourishing ACS gets space to grow in Florida

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Chris Lewis

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December 18, 2025

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Air Charter Service has moved its Florida officefrom Miami to larger premises in Hollywood. The new office is three times larger than the pervious space and is closer to Boca Raton, Miami-Opa Locka, Fort Lauderdale Executive, and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airports, all of which the broker regularly uses.

Beaujolais Nouveau flows with a little help from DHL and ECS

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Chris Lewis

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December 18, 2025

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ECS Group’s Aero Cargo International France subsidiary says it has set a new industry benchmark with its campaign to deliver Beaujolais Nouveau to wine connoisseurs in 2025, moving 40% of all exports on DHL Aviation-operated flights to gateways in Tokyo and Osaka, the highest market share ever achieved. “This record achievement is a clear demonstration of what happens when operational excellence meets true partnership,” said ECS Group chief executive, Jean Ceccaldi.

Saudia Cargo signs export-boosting pact

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Chris Lewis

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December 18, 2025

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Saudia Cargo has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Export Development Authority to support the competitiveness of local products and increase access to international markets. It also encompasses overcoming logistical and regulatory obstacles, facilitating and accelerating export operations, building capacities, conducting joint studies and developing innovative shipping solutions.

Anything from an aircraft engine to a new eye

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Chris Lewis

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December 17, 2025

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Lufthansa Cargo transported over 1,000 aircraft engines and numerous high-tech systems in 2025, along with some3,500 horses, 12,000 pets, 80 million ornamental fish, and 200 zoo animals, said the carrier in its review of the year.

Other shipments included a rare BMW classic car from Prague to Tokyo, 12 critically endangered Vietnamese crocodile-tailed lizards returning to their native habitat and specially trained sniffer dogs to South Africa for anti-poaching duties.

Perhaps most importantly, 10,000 corneal tissue transplants gave recipients the chance to see again in a collaboration with the Lions World Vision Institute, which coordinates donations worldwide.