Global aircraft charter specialist Chapman Freeborn has opened a Moscow office and appointed Maxim Tsarev (pictured) as director general, Russia. It said that the country is a fast-developing market with increased activity in aerospace, technology and automotive. The new office would allow the company to better work with freight forwarders.
DHL signs green UK fuel deal
Deutsche Post DHL Group has agreed a new partnership with Neste to supply its DHL Express division with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) at the UK’s East Midlands Airport. DHL will purchase SAF worth more than €60 million by mid-2022, which the operator says will cut its CO2 emissions by r around 70,000 tons. It is the first step towards a target of meeting at least 30% of its aviation fuel needs through SAF by 2020.
Neste will supply renewable fuel is produced from Used Cooking Oil (UCO), but avoiding palm oil. It will fuel around 200 flights a week
DHL Express is making use of the Renewable Transport Fuel Certificate (RTFC) incentive program which provides support to ramp up the market for SAF. The company has already introduced SAF in San Francisco and Amsterdam (AMS) and plans to equip more airports with the fuel this year.
ABC gains China approval to carry bigger Li batteries
Volga-Dnepr Group’s AirBridgeCargo Airlines arm has obtained Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) approval for commercial transportation of lithium batteries over 35kg, which are commonly addressed as SP (Special provision) A99. ABC says it is the first airline to receive this type of approval in China and it follows two years of preliminary work, testing, and close collaboration with stakeholders.
The first commercial shipment of 113kg was flown on 20 October from Shanghai Pudong Airport to Frankfurt (Germany) for Contemporary Amperex Technology.
AABC regional special cargo manager for Asia and Pacific, Tom Ouyang, said: “This is an important event for the LB industry in China and we are honoured to be the first airline to get CAAC approval. The export of the first SP A99 lithium battery shipment is a remarkable milestone in the air logistics industry in China. With the successful experience, we are encouraged to support more and more customers on the transportation of this special cargo in future.”
China has become a major center for Lithium battery manufacturing, but until now most customers have tended to favor sea freight.
Atran restarts China-Germany flights
Volga-Dnepr Group’s Atran Airlines has launched a service between Xi’an (China) and Cologne (Germany).
It will be operated by a Boeing 737-800BCF with up to 23 tonnes of cargo capacity per flight. The 12 hour flight includes tech stops in Russia for refuelling, at Krasnoyarsk and Moscow (Vnukovo).
General Director, Vitaliy Andreev, commented: “Last year we had to suspend our operations ex Xi’an and concentrate on other destinations. This year we decided to re-introduce the flights amid the growing market volumes ex China to Europe and revival of regular and stable traffic. Cologne is among a few cargo-friendly airports in Europe which managed to upscale its freight infrastructure, attract required resources and nurture manpower.”
Atran has recently enlarged its fleet which now consists of three Boeing 737-400SF and 6 B737-800BCFs.
Happy days are here again for Atlantic carriers
IAG Cargo is to increase its services into the US from 8 November, as the country reopens to fully vaccinated passengers from around the world. The new schedule will service 21 destinations across the US.
From 8 November, IAG Cargo will increase flights into New York, Austin, Miami, Philadelphia and Los Angeles among other destinations. It will restarts direct service into Newark and plans to restart services to Baltimore, Orlando, Tampa and Las Vegas from 15 November.
The move coincides with peak season for cargo with Black Friday, Thanksgiving and Christmas all taking place within the next few weeks. The business is also focused on providing additional capacity on priority routes – adding wide-body aircraft to short haul European routes that feed into its main hubs at London-Heathrow, Madrid-Barajas and Dublin.
Chief commercial officer John Cheetham said: “We are delighted to see the US open up once again to passengers, and the impact this will have on cargo capacity; the full reopening of the transatlantic travel corridor is a pivotal moment. With peak season in full swing, one of our busiest trading lanes is linking US, Europe and UK – this additional capacity will be of great benefit to so many of our customers.”
He added: “IAG Cargo is now serving 21 US destinations and additionally, we’ve added wide-body aircraft within Europe that feeds into our main hubs and onwards to the US. For example, we’ve added the A380 for peak season to service London and Frankfurt – an important hub for the automotive industry.”
Services to a number of US destinations also restarted at Manchester. The first stateside bound flights were Virgin Atlantic services to Orlando and New York. Routes to Atlanta and Houston will also return over the coming weeks and months.
In Germany, Lufthansa also resumed flights between Munich and Miami for the first since March 2020 and will operate three times a week in the winter flight schedule.
Delta Air Lines resumes four weekly flights to Atlanta on 14 December, with American Airlines operating daily flights to Charlotte from 17 December. This will return the German airport to pre-pandemic levels in terms of the number of destinations in the US and Canada.
Maersk buys German forwarder in airfreight drive
AP Moller – Maersk is to buy German-based forwarder Senator International, for about US$644 million. Founded by Uwe Kirschbaum in 1984, it has grown to a sizable global freight forwarder with a particular emphasis on airfreight. It operates a significant part of its business through a dedicated air bridge using 19 weekly flights.
Maersk’s ambition is likewise to have approximately one third of its annual air tonnage carried within its own controlled freight through a combination of owned and leased aircraft, replicating the structure of its ocean shipping fleet. The remaining capacity will be provided by strategic commercial carriers and charter flight operators.
Maersk set up its air operation, Star Air in 1987. The Copenhagen-based operator currently runs a fleet of 15 aircraft: 12 Boeing 767-200SFs, a Boeing 767-300BCF and two Boeing 767-300Fs, It has 160 type-rated pilots and 50 certified aircraft mechanics. It is adding three leased three B767-300 cargo planes to its airfreight operation from 2022 and two new Boeing B777F aircraft by 2024.
Star Air will operate and maintain owned and leased aircraft for Maersk while continuing to operate air cargo for its current customers. Star Air has also purchased two further new B777 Freighters to be delivered by Boeing in 2024 and leased three B767-300 freighters.
Strong recovery for IAG Cargo
IAG Cargo reported revenues of €405 million in the third quarter (July to September), an increase of 34.4%. The airline said that activity was accelerating back to 2019 levels. It said its success has been achieved through a sustained resurgence in flights. Overall, IAG Cargo has seen a 24% increase in capacity on the previous quarter and a 62.2% increase compared to the third quarter of last year. New routes during the quarter included Nairobi, Istanbul, Male, Chennai, Vienna, Denver and Phoenix whilst many other lanes saw increased frequencies.
Emirates to fly to Tel Aviv
Emirates is to start daily flights between Dubai and Tel Aviv, Israel from 6 December. It will be operated by Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, offering 20 tonnes of cargo capacity each way. Exports from Tel Aviv are expected to include pharmaceuticals, high-tech goods, vegetables and other perishables and in the other direction manufacturing raw materials and components, semiconductors and e-commerce parcels.
Teddy Zebitz to lead SkyTeam
The SkyTeam Cargo airline alliance, has appointed Saudia Cargo chief executive officer, Teddy Zebitz as its new chairperson. Teddy Zebitz, a Danish national, brings with him almost 40 years’ international industry experience to the executive board. Prior to joining Saudia Cargo, he worked in leadership positions at SAS and Emirates.
Other members of the alliance are Delta, Aeroflot, Aerolineas Argentinas, AeroMexico, Air France, ITA, China Airlines, China Cargo, Czech Airlines and Korean Air.
Dnata appoints new man in Dubai
Dubai-based handler dnata has appointed Guillaume Crozier as senior vice president, UAE Cargo.
He will oversee dnata’s cargo business in the UAE covering Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC) airports. His appointment is effective from 19 December.
Guillaume has been with dnata since 2011 and was most recently responsible for operational performance management as well as innovation and product development across dnata’s global network for both ground and cargo handling products.
He will replace Bernd Struck in his new role who will retire from his role at the end of the year.