American Airlines is to reintroduce flights to Edinburgh, Scotland in its summer schedule next year. A daily 787-8 service from Philadelphia will start on May 23. It will also expand its schedule to Italy with new services from Miami to Rome with a 777-200 from July 5 and from Philadelphia to Milan with a 787-8 from May 23. There is also a new 777-200 service from Charlotte, North Carolina to Athens from June 5, one of four daily flights to Greece in 2025. American will also connect its Chicago O’Hare hub with Madrid for the first time from March 30 with a daily 787-8.
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UPS to buy German healthcare specialists
UPS has agreed to acquire German-based healthcare logistics provider Frigo-Trans and its sister company BPL, for an undisclosed sum. Frigo-Trans’ network includes temperature-controlled warehousing that covers six temperature zones from cryopreservation (-196°C) to ambient (+15° to +25°C), a pan-European cold chain transportation solution and temperature-controlled and time-critical freight forwarding capabilities. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, subject to regulatory reviews and approvals.
Pharma partners offer clinical trial solution
Temperature-controlled container specialists Tower Cold Chain and Cryopdp have partnered to provide an expanded range of logistics solutions for clinical research. Tower Cold Chain is incorporating Cryopdp’s liquid nitrogen-filled dry vapour shippers for ultra-low temperature goods, which maintain temperatures from -196°C to -150°C. In return, Cryopdp will offer its customers Tower’s fully reusable small box including 12-litre, 26-litre, and 57-litre options for small payloads and last-mile delivery at -80°C to +20°C.
Delta Cargo chief joins Maastricht board
Delta Airlines Cargo president Peter Penseel has joined the board of Maastricht Aachen Airport, the Netherlands’ second largest cargo hub.
He brings over 30 years of experience in airfreight, including senior roles at Qatar Airways, DHL Global Forwarding, UTi, and CEVA Logistics.
The airport has a new management structure following investment from the Royal Schiphol Group, owners of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
The supervisory board, which is tasked with steering future growth at the airport, is made up of experts in various disciplines within aviation and business, including Frans Weekers, Angelique Palmen and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol’s Kjell Kloosterziel.
MST last year invested €35.3 million to upgrade its runway as part of an ongoing €100 million infrastructure development plan.
E-commerce market is growing, and diversifying, says Rotate chief
The e-commerce airfreight market is diversifying, Ryan Keyrouse, chief executive of software company Rotate told the Cross-Border e-commerce Forum in Liege, Belgium. While China to the US and Europe indeed experienced the largest tonnage growth over the last two years in absolute terms, China to Malaysia and Mexico combined added as many e-commerce tonnes as Europe – with year-on-year growth rates of 46% and 73%, respectively.
An early Rotate survey of the 450 delegates on various e-commerce trends showed that while half the delegates believed e-commerce growth came on top of a growing general cargo market, trade data indicates the general cargo market over the last two years was flat at best. The survey also revealed the biggest risks to e-commerce growth was not changes to De Minimis thresholds, but rather security concerns from misdeclarations and politically motivated policies.
Delegates also highlighted unprepared airport facilities and staff, and unbalanced flows, with the growing imbalance leading to increasing gaps in freighter profitability.
Looking ahead to 2025, Keyrouse said that delegates were split between e-commerce continuing its aggressive growth and maturing to a more moderate growth, while a small minority thought e-commerce volumes had peaked.
Aramex opens in Aberdeen, Scotland
The UK arm of Middle East-owned freight forwarder Aramex has opened a branch in Aberdeen.
It will also invest in a new warehousing facility at the port, a major gateway for the North Sea oil and gas industry.
The new facility will offer services including air, ocean, and road freight, warehousing and courier solutions.
The branch will be led by Adam Demus, as branch manager.
Aerios app aims to be make life easier for charter firms
Air cargo charter software company, Aerios, a member of CargoTech, has released its first product, a Carrier App.
It has been developed for carriers operating in the cargo charter market which, because of its highly complex and ad hoc nature has been left unsupported by commonly used sales tools, says Aerios. Until now, operators have had to choose between accepting a largely manual process, costly investment to customise their existing CRM tool or developing their own digital solution.
Aerios’ charter management system is designed to integrate with flight operations, CRM and communication systems, to create a single digital workflow, automating manual, repetitive tasks in a single tool to create one consistent process. It also does away with the cumbersome and error-prone use of spreadsheets and group email inboxes.
Aerios founder, Simon Watson, said: “Our mission is to enable brokers, charter professionals and carriers to work more efficiently and maximise revenue opportunities. We do that by designing software that enables your team to spend less time on traditional manual processes and more time on relationships and growth.”
The App is already live with a group of carriers and Aerios will announce airline partnerships in the coming months.
It will be the first of a series of products for the wider charter market.
Challenge Group gains Li battery certificate
Challenge Group is now IATA CEIV Lithium Battery certified, in addition to its existing IATA CEIV Pharma and IATA CEIV Live accreditations previously awarded to Challenge Airlines and Challenge Handling in Liège. The group, which operates freighter aircraft as well as ground handling and logistics, has a dedicated lithium battery team while battery shipments have their own separate handling areas, both in the warehouse dangerous goods section as well as in the second-line warehouse dedicated to e-commerce.
Business as usual as Lufthansa Cargo starts mega-hub project
Lufthansa Cargo marked the start of construction of the €600 million (US$665m) modernisation of its main cargo hub at Frankfurt with a ceremony on 5 September.
The LCCevo project aims to strengthen the logistics hub´s competitive position in Europe and create a modern, more sustainable infrastructure by 2030.
Guests from politics and business, as well as employees, customers and project partners, attended the ceremony where participants filled and sealed a time capsule.
The construction work is being carried out in sections so that daily operations can continue undisturbed. During the current construction phase, Lufthansa Cargo is renovating or building facilities on around 55,000sq m including a 42-meter high-bay warehouse, which will be the second-highest building at the airport.
The modernization program includes renewal of all central functions by 2030, including cargo handling facilities, storage and conveyor technology, building technology, administrative buildings and IT systems. With a total area of around 330,000 m² – the equivalent of around 46 football pitches – it is one of the largest airfreight hubs in Europe.
Lufthansa Cargo chief executive, Ashwin Bhat, said: “Lufthansa Cargo enables global business and connects world markets in a more sustainable way. The ‘LCCevo’ project represents our drive for growth and excellence.
“In times of global tensions and changing customer demands, we need innovative solutions that meet our, our customers’ and society’s needs. This is only possible with a modern infrastructure. For our customers, we want to optimize efficiency and quality and make our service even faster and more seamless. For our employees, we want to create attractive and future-proof jobs for the next generations in our newly designed ‘Home of Cargo’. At the same time, ‘LCCevo’ underscores our strong ties to our home base and strengthens Frankfurt Airport’s role as a central cargo hub in Europe”.
Deutsche Lufthansa board member, Michael Niggemann added: “This investment by the Lufthansa Group is a clear commitment to the Frankfurt location and symbolizes our confidence in the long-term future of the airfreight business.
“This flagship project makes our cargo business at the Frankfurt hub fit for the future. It increases quality and efficiency for customers, creates sustainable jobs for our colleagues, and enables even more environmentally friendly ground processes. At the same time, we are making a significant contribution to the performance of airfreight in the heart of Europe and thus enabling global traffic for our economy.”
From Stavanger to Singapore – Antonov to the rescue
Ukraine-owned, Germany-based heavylift carrier Antonov Airlines has moved 95 tons critical oil and gas equipment Stavanger, Norway to Changi, Singapore in partnership with Golden Aviation.
An oil company chartered the Antonov-124-100 for the complex 7,700-mile mission, which required specialized loading equipment at both the departure and arrival points. Despite the logistical challenges, the flight departed and arrived precisely on schedule.